Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police sparked off a storm of protest when he claimed that black people were responsible for 80% of muggings in London.
He called on a number of black "leaders" to support a conference later this month to discuss the "problem" of crime in the black community.
As with previous statements from Condon on "noble cause corruption", this was a thinly veiled signal to police to step up their repression, intimidation, harrrasment and fitting-up of black people.
Meanwhile the mounting list of horrendous racist attacks on black people and communities is met with apathy and inaction from Condon's Met and other police forces.
Many of the black people from whom Condon aimed to gain consent for a hard-line policy have been quite rightly enraged by his overt racism, which Condon tries to justify as merely being 'honest' about crime statistics.
Home Secretary Michael Howard has given his full support for Condon's actions, which, while they may be fairly. representative of the police's attitude to black communities can only serve to further racism within the police and within society.
Howard's hard line, linked with yet more attacks on asylum seekers, reinforce fears that a desperate Tory government will shamelessly play the 'race card' in the hope of winning reactionary votes at the next election.
In the early 1980s such racist comments from senior police officers were commonplace. It was only in the aftermath of the riots in Brixton, Toxteth and across the country that the police were forced to review their public statements.
The Scarman enquiry attempted to whitewash the role of the police by both blaming the riots on "cultural practices" in the African-Caribbean community, and on the "prejudices" of a few low ranking police officers.
The Scarman Report was largely a cosmetic exercise, aimed at hiding the overall Scarman enquiry though, was the idea that black communities could not simply be ignored. In conjunction with the paramilitary style policing, police • African-Caribbeans in particular are much less likely to be cautioned or overwiswe diverted from the courts, and more likely to be arrested. • African-Caribbeans are more likely to face serious charges than white people for tyhe same offence. less" crimes (e.g. driving offences) • Black people are more likely to be remanded in custody dered than whites. • Black people are less likely to receive probation orders.
there was also to be "community policing", and senior officers were to take far more notice of public relations aimed at black communities. At the same time the state made a conscious effort to create a Black middle class, albeit a tiny minority of the black community. Condon and Howard are now attempting to shift the balance away from public relations and towards greater repression. Whilst all their moves must be opposed, it is not enough to simply defend the status quo. You don't need to be a sociologist to understand why poor people steal. If we are serious about fighting. muggings and other crimes, Black people and the Labour movement must develop their own agenda that both opposes police repression, and that offers a way out for whole communities that are currently condemned to poverty and deprivation. • Black people are more likely to be stopped and searched by • African-Caribbeans are more likely to be charged for "victim• Black people are less likely to have social enquiry reports or• Black people are more likely to receive custodial sentences.