MP calls for ‘system change’ after police stop

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Dawn Butler MPImage copyright
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Dawn Butler said she was pulled over by police while travelling through Hackney

An MP has called for a “system change” after she was stopped while travelling in a car in east London.

Former shadow equalities minister Dawn Butler accused police of racial profiling after the stop on Sunday.

Labour MP Ms Butler told BBC Breakfast she had agreed to meet local police commanders to discuss “taking the bias out of the system”.

The Met said the stop was a mistake caused by an officer incorrectly entering the car’s registration number.

Ms Butler said it had been 20 years since the Macpherson report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which described the Met Police as “institutionally racist”.

“It’s about time we changed the system so it works for everyone and it’s effective,” she said.

The MP also said stop and search needed to be revised to a system with “better outcomes”, but “it’s going to take an intense amount of work”.

The BMW which was stopped on Sunday was being driven by a male friend, who is also black, and it was pulled over by two police cars, Ms Butler said.

She said officers said the car was registered in North Yorkshire and took the car keys while checking the registration.

They then admitted there had been a mistake, that it was registered to the driver, and apologised, she said.

Ms Butler told the BBC: “I still don’t know why they punched the number plate into the system.

“I don’t know what raised their suspicion. All I know is I’m black, my friend was black and he has a fairly decent car.”

In a statement the Met said “one of the occupants” had been contacted by a senior officer and they had discussed “subsequent interaction as well as feedback regarding the stop”.

It added: “We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter further with the occupants if they wish to do so.”

The force’s statement did not explain why the car registration was entered in the first place.

‘Listening to concerns’

Ms Butler said she had already spoken to her local borough commander and further meetings were planned.

She said: “We haven’t worked out a date yet or who will attend the meeting.

“But we are setting up a meeting.

“There will probably be several meetings.”

Ch Supt Roy Smith tweeted on Sunday to say he had spoken to Ms Butler and she had “given me a very balanced account of the incident”.

The officer said the force “are listening” to concerns she had about the stop and the officers involved, and Ms Butler was “quite entitled to raise them”.



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