Meeting the needs of British Muslims
Representatives from Muslim Organisations have raised serious concerns with the IPCC about the current relationship between the police and Muslim communities in England and Wales, in particular around the use of anti-Terrorism legislation.
As a result, the IPCC has asked all police forces to refer any complaints made around arrests under the Terrorism Act, so that the IPCC Chair can look at the appropriate level of scrutiny required.
The IPCC remains concerned that Muslims may not be aware of the IPCC or feel confident in making a complaint against the police. The IPCC is therefore working to open up dialogue with Muslim groups to improve communication and raise awareness of the police complaints system.
Latest Development - Review of the complaints made by Babar Ahmad
The IPCC has published a review document into the complaints made by Babar Ahmad (pdf 294k). The document seeks to answer questions that have been raised by community organisations about Mr Ahmad's allegations and has been developed taking into consideration the comments of such organisations. It covers areas such as the role of evidence and the steps taken around criminal and disciplinary charges.
The IPCC has recently produced multi-lingual posters, in
- English/Arabic
- English/Urdu
- English/Punjabi
- English/Gujarati
- English/Bengali
If you are able to display these posters, please email enquiries@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk or call 0845 002 002 option2.
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Access to the Police Complaints System
We are concerned that people from ethnic minorities are less likely to know about the IPCC, which could affect how likely they are to complain.
62% of people have heard of the IPCC, but this falls to 38% among Black people, and 27% among Asian people.
The IPCC is taking steps to tackle this, eg:
1. provision of leaflets in a variety of languages; written, face-to-face and telephone translation available
2. forming local level contacts with organisations such as Race Equality Councils to improve knowledge
3. working with media widely read by ethnic minority populations to raise awareness
In 2005/6 we will be following-up the survey with qualitative work to improve our understanding as to why people are not confident in and/or aware of the IPCC.
