“Nothing I was doing warranted a category A strip search” – Faron Paul

It’s clear to many that policing in the UK is not fit for purpose, especially when applied to Black people in particular. With Black men seven times more likely to be stopped and searched by police in the UK, something is clearly wrong with the current approach. With Taser being used on a higher proportion of people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds than other types of force it’s pretty clear change is required. Urgently.

I was keen to speak to those who would be able to talk candidly about their perspectives. With Twitter Spaces being my primary means by which I broadcast I held one of these last night. I wasn’t at all surprised by what my guests Sophie Khan, a high profile lawyer, Faron Paul a celebrated anti knife campaigner and Ryan Colaco, a TV and film location manager shared with me and the assembled audience.

Institutional racism delivered by oppressive police officers seems to be the collective experience of those who spoke candidly and as Ryan explained,”If you’re Black or an ethnic minority in this country it’s very difficult for us systematically as it is, and they are making it difficult for us by putting falsified crimes on us.”

Faron Paul’s incredible knife crime initiative, you can support that here, is still on track despite the harrowing strip search he experienced at the hands of the police, “I know, my solicitor knows, the court knows there was nothing I was doing to warrant a category A strip search.”, he said.

You can listen to the entire Twitter Space here or via the embedded panel below.

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