The Metropolitan Police has released a statement after their officers were accused of ‘racial profiling’ following a stop and search that was carried out in Maida Vale, London, over the weekend.
At around 13:12 hours on Saturday 4th July, officers from the Met’s Territorial Support Group (TSG) were patrolling in the W9 area of London.
These directed patrols were in response to an increase in reported violence in the area involving weapons.
Officers from the TSG are often directed to patrol areas where there has been a spike in crimes, particularly violent ones.
While on patrol, officers noticed that a vehicle was being driven on the wrong side of the road.
Officers then attempted to stop the vehicle, but it made off from them “at speed”. The car had tinted windows, so the officers could not see the occupants of the vehicle.
Officers managed to catch up with the fleeing vehicle when it finally stopped on Lanhill Road.
When officers spoke to the driver, he refused to get out of the vehicle.
Officers then informed the occupants, a 25-year-old man and a 26-year-old woman, that they were being detained for the purposes of a search under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984.
Nothing was found during the search, and no arrests were made with only words of advice being given regarding the manner of their driving.
A video clip of the stop has been uploaded to social media, which only appears to show the moment when officers tried to engage with the occupants of the vehicle in an attempt to get them out of the car.
As the vehicle had already made off from officers, they were prepared to respond appropriately should the vehicle make off from them again.
Officers explained to the female recording the footage that she was being detained under Section 1 of PACE after the vehicle ‘made off from [the] police’.
A spokesperson for the Met Police said:
“Each stop is dealt with on its own merits at the discretion of the individual officers involved, taking into account various aspects including behaviour and compliance.
“Officers have to make these judgement calls regularly daily, often in difficult circumstances.
“They understand that their actions will be scrutinised as they go about their work and that the public have the right to hold them to account where appropriate.
“Officers from the Directorate of Professional Standards have reviewed both footage from social media, and the body-worn video of the officers and are satisfied that there is no concern around the officers’ conduct”.
Commander for Central West BCU Helen Harper said:
“I understand the concern when incidents like this happen and how they can appear when part of it is filmed without context.
“Due to the concern raised, we conducted a review of the stop. This included social media footage and body-worn camera footage of the officers at the scene. We are satisfied that there are no misconduct issues.
“The officers were deployed to a high violence area of London, and the manner of the driving raised suspicion, it is only right that they act on it.
“We are open to discussing the incident with the individuals involved if they wish to do so.”
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Very concerned regarding the action of the Metropolitan Police regarding the arrest and handcuffing of Williams and Dos Santos she and Dos Santos – who had their three-month-old son in the car – are considering legal action.
She added: “It was just weird that we were treated that way and what hurt me the most was me being dragged away from my son.”
Williams and Portuguese 400m record holder Dos Santos, 25, fear they were targeted because they are black and drive a Mercedes.
Surely the police should not handcuff both parents whilst a 3 month old baby is in the back seat. Quite disgraceful, but this action was said to be OK said Commander for Central West BCU Helen Harper, shame on you Helen Harper
Where you there…?? do you know exactly what happened,…?? Do you know the full circumstances…?? How can you possibly judge without knowing the full facts…it’s ridiculous to reach such conclusions without having the full facts at your disposal, and clearly shows you systemic approach to deciding and judging because of your prejudices…quite disgraceful.
Dear Vilamendoo, thank you for your concern regarding the arrest and handcuffing of two GB sprinters who were returning home after a training session. What conclusions did I reach when I was concerned about leaving a 3 month old baby in the car without its parents. The facts are the video available to all and the Police did not take any further action, so this was heavy handed in the extreme. I doubt very much if I am prejudice as I am a White Male and you probably think that all black people are guilty.
G. Ambrose: Trying to pass serious comment about an incident at which you weren’t present is a waste of time. However, your prejudice is clear for all to see. More divisive assumption and an attempt to denigrate those doing a thankless task. If you drive your car on the wrong side of the road, fail to stop when asked, drive off at speed, you can reasonably expect to be treated with suspicion. Refusing to get out of your car when asked only further aggravates an escalating situation.In simple terms, if you act like a tw@t, expect to be treated with suspicion. There was nothing – repeat – nothing, untoward about the manner in which they were treated in the circumstances. The driver invited the attention he was given.
Why mention they were 2 GB sprinters, does that mean they are above the law…?? Why mention your skin colour, and their skin colour…??? What relevance is that…? The fact you mention it shows your preconceived thinking. The fact they drove on the wrong side of the road, made off from police when required to stop, with a child on board, makes me concerned for the welfare of the child as He was treated with total disregard. I worry about the people who were stopped motives, as they had their cameras ready to film, then released that footage to the media, then stated they would consider suing the met police, some would say this was staged to support the current situation, to further alienate the police Service, and the black community. However the police try to justify their actions, many would never accept it, as they have a systematic problem with them.
Hi, thanks for your comments, I think that the police should concentrate on real crimes and not so much emphasis on the motorist. If you are now burgled the police do not even come round to your house, but they have enough officers to stop the motorist. I also think that kneeling down on one knee in football matches is going to far and as far as Black lives matter so does every life matter. So by your comments it would not surprise me if you were a serving police officer, as you seem very biased.
I believe that you are either ex forces or ex police member, so your vision is clouded
“Each member of our in-house team of writers has served in either the armed forces, emergency services or NHS”. So I would say that you are a biased reporting blog
Well done to the Police officers involved having to deal with motorists who fail to comply and then kick off in an obvious attempt to discredit the Police. If i saw a car with tinted windows driving away from the Police at speed on the wrong side of the road I would expect the Police to stop them as a matte of urgency – I am disappointed the driver wasnt reported for their motoring offences. One of the comments mentioned about the officers not considering the 3 month old child in the car. Maybe the driver should have considered the the 3 month old child when they were tearing off at speed on the wrong side of the street – apparently with one of the cars doors open.
Did you read the article, they were driving on the wrong side of the road , then drove off failing to stop . BREAKING THE LAW , good on the police they should have charged them , I’m sure they would have if they were white
They drove badly before they were arrested, crossing over lanes, braking and speeding off….what did you think should have happened, given them a slap wrist and tell them to walk. Presidence needs to be set and thats what our laws are supposed to do, if it had been someone else, rhey would have been arrested, bearing in mind the police officers couldn’t tell who was in the car because of blacked out windows.
Just like that 20ish year old on the aeroplane, caused problems whilst drunk and she got off with a slapped wrist because she’s a single mother, that sets a bad presidence, effectively it is giving single mothers carte blanche to do what they want.
The law is there to give society structure, yes some of them are antiquated but they are still laws until someone shakes the judicial system up!
A 3 month old baby cannot understand what’s going on -the Mother should have thought about her child and apologised instead of obstructing the Police doing their job . -many famous people think they are above the Law — until they are caught breaking it . Think themselves very lucky –and well done to the Police Officers.
Yet another very selective mobile video footage from people claiming something that can not be confirmed with partial information.
The incident has been thoroughly investigated and is clearly not in breach of anything.
Would be beneficial for Police to release the video of the suspect cars action leading to the incident to disprove these claims.
It is always easy to make these claims but when false the Police need to show how and why.
There is incidents like this happening in UK and are clearly copying the same things from America when people obviously go out intending to do just this get the Police to stop them be as obnoxious as possible and then complain.
Just comply its that simple. No one is above the law. You attract attention and suspicion if you fail to comply. You might not like the fact there are rules and laws but that god thats the case or our country would be a very different place indeed.
Best think themselves incredibly lucky they were stopped by British armed officers. In most other countries they would have stopped the car more decisively. You perceived personal status means nothing (less still an Olympic athlete…so what) as within these shores you abide by the laws of the land, you stop when being told to. I get that a foreign national you might inadvertently drive on the wrong side of the road, I have done it myself on return from BAOR, but the BRITISH national knew better and should have advised the driver accordingly. Race has no relevance here unless you need an excuse for gross stupidity.
Are you an ex policeman or ex army, or just biased