Muslim Police Chief 'Warns' of Discrimination

Britain's most senior Muslim police officer is to tell a conference that Muslims are being discriminated against by law enforcement agencies.

Met Police Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur will be speaking to the National Black Police Association.

He will say stop-and-search powers and some profiling tend to be based more on physical appearance than intelligence. He will also call for an independent judicial review into why some young Muslims are becoming radicalised.

The conference is taking place in Manchester until Thursday.

According to the Guardian newspaper, Mr Ghaffur will tell delegates, "Not only has anti-terrorism and security legislation been tightened across many European countries with the effect of indirectly discriminating against Muslims. But other equally unwanted practices have also emerged, including 'passenger profiling' as well as increased stop and search and arrest under terrorism legislation.
They're increasingly concerned about the disproportionate impact of anti-terror laws, not just by the police but by other law enforcement agencies. There is a very real danger that the counter-terrorism label is also being used by other law enforcement agencies to the effect that there is a real risk of criminalising minority communities. The impact of this will be that just at the time we need the confidence and trust of these communities, they may retreat inside themselves."