Cable Forum - View Single Post - blacks and asians more prone to being stopped

punky · 02-07-2004, 17:36

I think figures and reports like this can easily be mis-intrepretted.

My dad used to be a PC in Holloway, North London. White people there were very few and far between. If my dad tried to stop and search more whites than non-whites, he'd have to try very hard to find them for starters.

The figures aren't really explained, but it looks like they are based on the whole country. Well, the figures become unfairly weighted because of the cities. Out in the country, where areas are predominantly white, stop and searches just aren't carried out because crimes that warrant them aren't carried out there. Crimes like that (mugging, shop lifting, threatening behavior etc) are carried out in the cities. What doesn't help is that non-whites tend to be poorer, less educated, etc, and more likely to result to mugging, etc. Not even including the fact that non-whites drastically outnumber in urban areas.

It is no wonder the figures come out so bad, but it is not because the police are trying to make life hell for non-whites. I mean, if the police are told to be on the look out for a black/asian guy in a leather jacket who mugged someone for his mobile, they can hardly stop and search white people with leather jackets. Most of the time, they don't get a choice in the colour of the person being stopped. Also, if some black people are looking suspicious but some white people are just talking minding their own business, then what choice does he have?

I don't think it is fair to say this is "Islamophobia" because the police have to re-evaluate who poses the biggest threat to this country. I think if race hate attacks (asian people getting bricks through windows, graphiti with p**i, etc) then yes, I would say Islamophobia is getting worse, but there has been no mention of it?

02-07-2004, 17:36	#13
punky Inactive Join Date: Jun 2003 Age: 45 Posts: 14,750	Re: blacks and asians more prone to being stopped I think figures and reports like this can easily be mis-intrepretted. My dad used to be a PC in Holloway, North London. White people there were very few and far between. If my dad tried to stop and search more whites than non-whites, he'd have to try very hard to find them for starters. The figures aren't really explained, but it looks like they are based on the whole country. Well, the figures become unfairly weighted because of the cities. Out in the country, where areas are predominantly white, stop and searches just aren't carried out because crimes that warrant them aren't carried out there. Crimes like that (mugging, shop lifting, threatening behavior etc) are carried out in the cities. What doesn't help is that non-whites tend to be poorer, less educated, etc, and more likely to result to mugging, etc. Not even including the fact that non-whites drastically outnumber in urban areas. It is no wonder the figures come out so bad, but it is not because the police are trying to make life hell for non-whites. I mean, if the police are told to be on the look out for a black/asian guy in a leather jacket who mugged someone for his mobile, they can hardly stop and search white people with leather jackets. Most of the time, they don't get a choice in the colour of the person being stopped. Also, if some black people are looking suspicious but some white people are just talking minding their own business, then what choice does he have? I don't think it is fair to say this is "Islamophobia" because the police have to re-evaluate who poses the biggest threat to this country. I think if race hate attacks (asian people getting bricks through windows, graphiti with p**i, etc) then yes, I would say Islamophobia is getting worse, but there has been no mention of it?