'Most muggers are black'

27 November 2002
By Tim Rider, Evening Standard

The deputy head of the Metropolitan Police has launched an attack on political correctness, saying that society cannot ignore the evidence that most muggers are black.

Ian Blair said that fear of being branded racist is making it increasingly difficult for police to tackle the problem of muggings.

He admitted that police use of stop-and-search powers created a perception in the black community that it was being targeted disproportionately. But he said the realities of crime could not be ignored, with 63 per cent of mugging victims in London reporting that their attackers were black.

Mr Blair said: "We have to be honest. We need to engage with communities and without blaming or shouting say, 'How are we going to stop this?'"

He also drew attention to the people-smuggling problem within the Chinese community, and he said that youth gangs are rampant within Asian communities. Mr Blair urged leaders of ethnic minorities work with the police to tackle such problems.

Mr Blair pointed to the American example set by the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the former US presidential candidate. "We need a Jesse Jackson," he said. "We need someone to say, this is a problem for the community, not just the police."

But he also told the Runnymede Trust conference on multi-culturalism that ethnic minority numbers must be more proportionately reflected within the force.

He said: "The number of Afro-Caribbean, Muslim and Sikh officers has risen, but virtually no police are recruited from the Chinese and Bangladeshi communities."

Mr Blair welcomed new figures that show racism is finally being tackled head-on - the number of reported racist incidents is up 400 per cent and the number of arrests for racist offences is up 300 per cent.

But he stressed that the issue must be tackled with honesty, especially as rising numbers of illegal immigrants, notably from Eastern Europe, are causing new racial tensions here.

Mr Blair, a favourite of New Labour, is seen as a contender for Met commissioner. He was one of the first senior officers to call for a shake-up following the bungled investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.