The Metropolitan Police is today facing serious questions over the role of officers from ethnic backgrounds at the highest levels of the service following the guilty verdict of Ali Dezai, the most senior Asian officer, on corruption charges.
Despite a concerted effort by the Met to promote so called "ethnic officers" to the highest levels of the service in London, there is now not one commander from a non white English background, in a capital city where nearly 50% of the population are classified as "ethnic".
Dizai courted controversy way beyond the trial involving the corruption conviction today, which will almost certainly spell the end of the Iranian officer's controversial 24-year career.
But can one officers actions spell the end of the prospect of having ethnic commanders? No, but the drive to recruit officers and then promote to the post of commander candidates who are from a non-traditional background has now become even more difficult, when you look at the obstacles "ethnic officers" face.
The Met Police is still even according to its own officers, institutionally racist, and looks on black, Asian officers with a "difficult eye", even with suspicion sometimes. With the Diazai case, lets not forget Commander Dizai was a high flyer, promoted to the top, it leaves the Met now to look at how it deals with future ethnic officers.
There is, it can be argued, this "tribal" feeling that if you are black and in a position of influence in the police that you are somehow above the law, and you expect your "compatriots" to do what you say. This has to change, and is changing amongst the young London born ethnic officers, who are British, know the system, understand what you have to do move forward, and know the "fault lines" in 'their' communities.
Moreover the Met must now begin to advance officers in the Met who know London. Who understand the differences between a Kurd and Turk, a Greek mainlander and a Greek-Cypriot, an Albanian from Kosovo and a Serb, a Ghanaian from a Jamaican? This is the city we live in. What can an officer who was brought up in the Highlands of Scotland know about the inter-nici war that is taking place between drug cartels in the inner cities? Or the so called 'honour crimes' that have plagued so many communities? We need Londoners to police and manage the Met. Like the anger shown by Ricky Tomlinson the comidenence over Labour's decision to promote a north Londoner to a safe Labour seat in Liverpool, Londoners should also demand people who were born, bred and know the streets of the capital to be in charge of the police, and this will mean more ethnic officers, not less.
There will always be 'bad apples', let the Met learn the lessons from the whole Dizai saga and let new young officers come forward to make London a safer and better place.
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