PRESS RELEASE : The Council of Somali Organisations responds to the IOPC recommendations to tackle Met Culture Re Operation Hotton 01/02/2022
PRESS RELEASE : The Council of Somali Organisations respond to the IOPC recommendations to tackle Met Culture Re Operation Hotton 01/02/2022
Dated: 2nd February 2022
The Council of Somali Organisations welcomes the IOPC’s recommendations as part of Operation Hotton and urges the Metropolitan Police and the Commissioner to fully implement them.
We are shocked and saddened by the senseless and racially motivated banter perpetrated on Black and minoritised communities. We are in particular concerned with the reference below to the Somali community. On behalf of the Somali Community, we call for clear commitment to being an anti-racist organisation with a zero-tolerance position on racist behaviour. Clearly the MPS has a lot to learn from this report 22 years from the MacPherson report.
“Some uniform or plain clothes work on Somalian rats… I battered one the other day…weighed less than [police officer’s name].”
Director of CSO, Kahiye Alim said: “We utterly condemn this level of racism. It is an affront to all of our values and our democratic society itself. It undermines the confidence of our communities in the police services and the Peelian principles of policing by consent. ”
The Council of Somali organisations remain committed to supporting all our communities and working to create partnership and a better society between all, and in particular the MPS.
Notes:
1. For more information on the Council of Somali Organisations: www.councilofsomaliorgs.com
2. For Media Contact, Kahiye Alim, Director of the Council of Somali Organisations 07516103727