[Fight the Power]

Hi, this is my first post on BN Village.

The following is an article published on whole of the front page of my local newspaper last week.

Is this what they call 'Community Policing'?

FTP


EALING GAZETTE – Friday 9th May 2008

Headline: "DRUGS RAID

Stunned shoppers watch police swoop

May 9 2008

By Michael Russell

STUNNED shoppers stopped and stared as dozens of police officers swooped on suspected drug dealers in a busy street.

The officers armed with tasers and clad in masks and protection from head to toe raided five shops and restaurants at about 1pm on Tuesday.

They seized 'a large quantity' of class A drugs during the operation.
Officers searched The Hummingbird Restaurant, Crabback Caribbean Restaurant and The Tran Oriental Supermarket in Chignell Place, as well as Diligence and Sylvester's hairdressers across the road in The Broadway, West Ealing.

Some suspects attempted to pose as innocent customers caught up in the melee.
Chui Kiaw Leong, owner of the Tran Oriental Supermarket, said: "One man came in and asked to buy a top up for his phone. He looked nervous.

"Seconds later a uniformed officer came in and put him on the floor and cuffed him. He was searched.

"I was very scared, I just didn't move through the whole thing."

A customer waiting to be served in KFC in The Broadway described the moment police burst in and made an arrest.

He said: "Officers rushed in and grabbed this guy right in front of me. He was a young teenaged-looking guy.

"They pushed him to the floor and shouted: 'Police! Don't move!' They were scaring people in the shop.

"It's not like they just asked him to come outside, they threw him on the floor.

"There were about six or seven of them. They were treating him like he wasn't a human being, like an animal or something. They said he was being arrested for crack."

The police effectively turned Sylvester's Hair and Beauty and Diligence hairdressers into holding pens with suspects hand-cuffed inside.

An innocent and angry passerby said he was shocked when he was dragged inside Sylvester's to be searched for drugs.

The man, who gave his name as Khama, said: "I was just walking along the street smoking a cigarette when an officer stopped me and said: 'You might have drugs on you.'

"I said: 'Excuse me?' And he replied: 'Just do what you're told' and pulled me inside.

"They had no right to just take me from the road. I've been stopped like this before for no reason, it's discrimination."

A large haul of class A drugs was seized and five people were arrested.

As the Gazette went to press two people appeared in court charged with 15 counts of supplying class A drugs.

Detective Inspector Dave Yarranton of Ealing Police said: "The arrests and seizure of drugs achieved during this operation are as a direct result of excellent intelligence-led police work and outlines our commitment to eradicating drug use and supply from the streets."

Police also targeted three homes on the Green Man Estate."

icEaling - Stunned shoppers watch police swoop

Additional Information.

1. In this area of West Ealing there are six or seven black owned business.

2. Rather to undertaken proper surveillance, the Police decided to obtain search Warrants for ALL of these businesses, even though their intelligence was poor.

3. No drugs were found on any of these business premises.

4. No drugs were found on any persons present on these premises.

5. No suspects were arrested inside any of these premises.

6. The Police had no evidence or intelligence to suggest that drugs were being dealt from any of these premises.

7. Drugs were only found the next day as the police needed to undertake another raid in the vicinity of these businesses to justify their previous day's action.

8. These black business owners feel that they have been victimised by the actions of the police and the reporting of this story in the local media.

What would you do if this happened in your community?