UK’s first black police chief warns of US-style killings

A Geoge-Floyd-style killing could happen in the UK, said Michael Fuller, the first and only black man who has been a police chief in Britain. Speaking for the first time since the Black Lives Matter movement went global following Mr Floyd’s death at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis, Mr Fuller said black communities in Britain and the US experience unjust policing.

“In both societies there is racial injustice and social injustice in the way black communities are treated in both countries. The issues are the same,” he said. “We have our problems here, there have been mistakes made and we have had our tragedies.”

Asked if the killing of Mr Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck during an arrest, could happen in the UK he told The Guardian: “It could happen here. We have had equally appalling incidents.”

Mr Fuller served as the chief constable of the Kent force from 2004 to 2010, was chief inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales, and is also a qualified barrister. He added: “People are not being treated with due courtesy and respect.”

Black people are being “humiliated and alienated” by stop-and-search exercises, he said. “I support stop search but it needs to be of the right people and based on intelligence rather than being indiscriminate,” Mr Fuller said.

“The evidence shows that 80 per cent of people stopped are innocent, which suggests it is not being used efficiently or effectively. Those people can feel inconvenienced, alienated and humiliated.”

He added: “There is a perception within black communities that the whole community is being profiled and targeted by the police. “That perception is there and it is very strong and that is something the police need to deal with. “Young black people do not feel their human rights and dignity are being respected by the police and that they are getting due protection under the law.

“It is the default use of handcuffs when people are stopped, that never happened when I was PC, and the perception of profiling. All the evidence points to a crisis of confidence in pAll the evidence points to a crisis of confidence in policing from the black community.”