This is an update on a blog I posted on 30th July 2018 “Is It Cos I Is Black?” recounting the day my brother was racially profiled by the police.
An official complaint has now been filed with the Independent Office For Police Conduct (IOPC) which I feel may be of interest to some of you.
I wish I could say ‘Happy reading’
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Director General
Independent Office for Police Conduct
Dear Sir,
An Official Complaint Regarding the Actions of Staff of the Thames Valley Police Force
BACKGROUND:
I am a Consultant Psychiatrist; I am a Research Associate at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge; I teach psychiatry trainees and resident doctors in UK, Europe, Asia and Africa; I am an International member of the American Psychiatric Association; I am a member of the Association of University Teachers in Psychiatry ...
BUT
I am black.
On Friday 27 July 2018, I drove from Stotfold to Oxford to teach and prepare UK psychiatrists for their membership exams. The course took place at the Holiday Inn, Oxford. I got to Oxford around 7:45 am and headed to the venue to teach the trainee doctors. After I finished the course, I went to the Travelodge Oxford Peartree Hotel around 6:30 pm, where I lodged for the weekend course.
Around 7:15 pm, I heard a loud banging sound on the door. As the banging was continuous, I went to open the door without my shirt as I thought it was an emergency. As I opened the door, two men barged into my hotel room. One was a black man in plain cloth and the other was a white man in plain cloth. There were also two white women in police uniform who stayed outside the room. The two policemen who entered the room were very hostile and intimidating. They did not produce any form of ID after they forcefully entered my hotel room.
"What's your name? What's your name?” said the black police officer.
"Akeem", I replied.
"Are you sure your name is Akeem? Are you sure your name is Akeem?" said the black cop, "Because someone with that name came to this hotel and was involved in sex trafficking and carrying a firearm."
The two male officers cornered me and as I tried to move forward, the white cop pushed me back. The two white female police officers remained outside the room. They still had not shown any form of ID.
"Why are you pushing me?” I said.
"Just answer his question," said the white police officer.
"I am a psychiatrist who came here to teach," I said.
"Are you sure you are Akeem because we might have to take you to the station for questioning?" said the black police officer.
"You are being racist," I said.
Both officers closed in further. Because I was cornered, I sat on the bed shirtless, yet they ‘kettled’ me in.
"If you are working for the NHS, there might be an explanation," said the black police officer, "Can I see your NHS ID and bank card so I can check it out?"
I handed my bankcard and NHS card to him. They took my cards and handed it over to the policewomen standing outside the room. The white policewomen left with my card.
"Can I see your ID card?" I asked.
Both officers brought out their ID cards out and flashed it quickly in front of my face.
“As far as I am concerned, a black man cannot get justice and this is why black people find it difficult to engage with the police,” I said.
The black police officer left the room.
"Can I put on my shirt?" I asked the white cop.
"JUST STAY THERE,” the white police officer shouted.
"Can't I just put on my shirt?" I said.
The white police officer ignored me. The black police officer came back after a five-minute absence.
Looking apologetically, the black police officer said, "Yes you work for the NHS. Let me try to explain."
"This is why black people don’t engage with the police," I said.
"The police take these things seriously. I am sure it hurts now, but five months from now you will laugh about this with your friends at the pub," said the black police cop, "I am very sorry."
The black officer presented his ID card to me.
"I don't want it. There’s no point making a complaint. This is not the first time that this has happened. The last time I complained, nothing happened," I said.
“Here it is,” the black police officer shouted showing me his ID.
The police officers then left the hotel and shortly after, I checked out of the hotel.
The above dialogue is a summary of what happened during my encounter with one black and three white police officers at the Travelodge Oxford Peartree Hotel. Based on what transpired, I am compelled to make an official complaint to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) for the intimidating, unprofessional and racist behaviour of staff of the Thames Valley Police force.
COMPLAINT:
Because of the hostile tactics of your police officers who violated my private space, I was left traumatised, threatened and humiliated. I was stripped of my humanity and dignity when I was left shirtless in front of an occupying police force. I have heard stories of people in the black community being provoked by the police force with the intention of getting a reaction to cuff them - on Friday, it ceased being a story to me and became my reality. I have read statistics of how black males are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police relative to white men - on Friday, it once again ceased being a statistic to me and became my reality. I have seen images of black bodies left lifeless by the police - on Friday, they ceased becoming images to me and nearly became my reality.
My family was also impacted negatively by the event. My nine-year-old son could not understand why police officers raided my room. My wife complained about how difficult it is to motivate black children to study hard and keep out of trouble because 'police trouble' will come to find them in their private space.
If this was the first time that I was stopped and searched by the police, I might have brushed it aside as a one-off case of mistaken identity, but this is the third time that I have been racially profiled by the British police. I was once stopped at Oxford on my way to church and searched by a police officer - his reason for stopping me - because I was rushing and there had been a lot of burglaries in the area where he saw me. Another time, I was stopped by a police officer in Biggleswade while driving from work - his reason for stopping me - I fitted the description of a black man who drove past Thomas Cook and looked into the window.
I appreciate that there are good cops and bad cops, but as far as people in my community and I are concerned, the British police force is institutionally racist. But how can you accuse us of racism when it was a black police officer that led the raid? - you may argue. As the attitude of the black police officer demonstrates, even if the police force employs more black and brown cops, promotes more black and brown cops and deploys more black and brown cops, as long as the police force remains institutionally racist, racism will continue to rear its ugly head. The black police officer's behaviour also demonstrates why token solutions lead nowhere. His action plays into the historical narrative whereby selected token black faces are used as white smokescreens to justify a white racist system. His action also plays into the historical narrative where a blackface is called upon to do the dirty work of a white supremacist regime.
The institutional racism prevalent in the United Kingdom has created a vicious cycle in which the institutionally racist media criminalises the black man, who is then searched and arrested by the institutionally racist police force and sentenced to prison by the institutionally racist judiciary system, which is then broadcasted by the institutionally racist media, which leads the unsuspecting public to conclude that all black men are criminals.
What do I tell my son who is still traumatised by the event? That whether you study at Oxford or No Ford; whether you teach in Cambridge or No Bridge; whether you work in Goldman Sachs or No Sachs, whether you speak Queen's English or Pidgin English – it doesn’t matter because as long as you are a black man in 21st century Britain, you will be treated worse than an animal.
With all due respect, I have lost complete faith in the British police and other British institutions, many of which are structurally racist. I am not alone in thinking this way. When people in the black community see a police officer, they don’t see someone wearing a white shirt, black shoes and black trousers, instead, they see someone wearing a white robe and a white hood with a cross on the right bosom of the white robe. As explained earlier, this is the third time that I have been stopped and searched by the British police. I once made an official complaint and had a discussion with the police department involved, yet nothing came out of it. I am sceptical that anything will come out of this complaint besides some form filling, letter writing and phone calling, but I still owe it to my nine-year-old son not to keep silent.
In the haste to pin down a black man, the Thames Valley police failed to follow proper procedure. The police officer even lied that a person named Akeem was involved in sex trafficking and possessing a firearm. The police must have been acting on a tip-off from someone in the Travelodge hotel who probably saw a black man and concluded that any black man in a white populated space must be a sex trafficker. Didn’t the officers ask if the hotel employee checked his/her record? Didn’t they see if I checked in using my name? Didn’t they check the CCTV camera? Didn’t they do their own investigation before relying on a tip-off? If the Thames Valley police had done its homework, it would have been more diligent especially when one considers that Travelodge has a history of making false accusations like it did early this year and April last year when the hotel staff accused two fathers of being paedophiles.
The Thames Valley police force along with Travelodge has sent a clear message to people in my community - BLACK FACES ARE NOT WANTED IN WHITE SPACES. We now live in a world where 19th and 20th century Jim Crow has metastasised into a 21st-century variant. Thames Valley police and Travelodge are following the well-played script we see in the West where black people are questioned for drinking coffee in white Starbucks, lodging in white Airbnb and driving past white Thomas Cook - No Blacks No Dogs.
I guess what I have written so far might be dismissed as the ranting of the so-called 'angry black man'. When people in my community raise issues of concern relating to the pain inflicted on us by a racist structure, we are often dismissed as angry or emotional and told to tone down our concerns and be long-suffering. This complaint I am filing is more than about me. It is a cry for black voices, which have gone unheard and unanswered. This complaint is also made on behalf of the future generation who I pray will not have to go through my experience.
ACTION:
Having been threatened and humiliated by the Thames Valley Police, I request:
a) A formal unconditional apology from the Thames Valley Police for the intimidating, unprofessional and racist behaviour of its staff.
b) A full-scale investigation into the events of 27 July 2018 at the Travelodge Oxford Peartree Hotel.
c) The white and black policemen involved in the disgraceful behaviour are called to account.
d) Racial awareness retraining for the Thames Valley Police force conducted by a person or organisation endorsed and recommended by the black civil and human rights community.
e) Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, I request:
i) A police report detailing the three stop and search encounters I had with the British police and any other information held about me.
ii) The number of times the Thames Valley police has received a tip-off from Travelodge Oxford Peartree Hotel over the last five years regarding a suspicious behaviour or person and a breakdown of the suspect by gender and ethnicity.
iii) The number of times the Thames Valley police has received a tip-off in the Oxford region over the last five years regarding a suspicious behaviour or person and a breakdown of the suspect by gender and ethnicity.
iv) The number of times the British police force has received a tip-off from a Travelodge Hotel in England over the last five years regarding a suspicious behaviour or person and a breakdown of the suspect by gender and ethnicity.
V) The number of times the British Police force has received a tip-off in England over the last five years regarding a suspicious behaviour or person and a breakdown of the suspect by gender and ethnicity.
I trust you will address the issues raised above with the serious attention it deserves.
Yours faithfully,
Akeem Sule, MBBS MRCPsych
August 2018
cc
Independent Office for Police Conduct
Francis Habgood QPM - Chief Constable Thames Valley Police
Minister for Policing - The Rt Hon Nick Hurd MP
Minister for Women and Equalities
Home Secretary
Government Equalities Office
Equality and Human Rights Commission
Travelodge Board of Directors
Rt. Hon Alistair Burt MP
Rt. Hon David Lammy MP
Rt. Hon Diane Abbott MP
Rt. Hon Anneliese Dodds MP
StopWatch
