Police Are Undoubtedly Racist Says British Race Relations Activist

18 February 2017, 10:23 | Updated: 18 February 2017, 12:14

A a race relations activist told Andrew Castle institutionalised racism is still rife in the police.

A new report suggests black and mixed-race people in London are more likely to be tasered by police after being on the receiving end of more than 40 per cent of police taser use. 

This comes despite the fact they account for less than one in six of London's residents. 

But the Met police have denied any racism and said that the ethnicity of the person is completely irrelevant when officers consider when to use force. 

LBC Presenter Andrew Castle spoke to British race relations activist Lee Jasper, who believes the police are racist. 

Lee said: "They need to explain why they disproportionately charge black and white first time offenders in relation to black people than white people for exactly the same charge.

"Why is that more black people who are arrested suffer more violence on arrest? Why do black people make more complaints about violence on arrest? And why is it that you disproportionately use violence black and ethnic minority people?

"If somebody can explain to me 'well that that's the consequence of some sort of innate black criminality' I'd be surprised.

"I think all the evidence in the Met, their own evidence, regardless of what they may say at the commissioner level, all their evidence points towards huge disproportionality on every aspect of policing interaction with black and ethnic minority people." 

Andrew then asked the activist whether communities should look at themselves and question why it is happening.

Lee responded: "All the research shows that black people and Muslims do not commit any more crime than white communities."