Report - Guardian

The LSE Identity Project Report: June 2005 131This episode, while bearing little direct relevance to the issue of racial discrimination,serves to demonstrate the capacity of the police to stretch the boundaries of what isconsidered ‘proper’ police practice in the exercise of their powers to stop and search,especially where the omnipresent threat of terrorism is allowed to influence matters.Immigration ChecksOn the issue of immigration checks, figures are more difficult to obtain. There arereports that immigration officials have apprehended individuals on public transport inorder to ascertain their immigration status. Although this practice began in London, it isspreading nationwide. In September 2004, The Guardian revealed that in the previous15 months, 235 operations had been conducted, and went on to say:“The figures showed that those arrested included 717 failed asylumseekers but thousands more people have been stopped and questionedby immigration staff using powers which the police are banned fromusing.” 349The article also quoted the immigration minister, Des Browne, who defended theoperations and said that although immigration officers do not have the same powers aspolice to stop and search, they can legitimately question people to determine theirimmigration status where there is a reasonable suspicion that a person is an immigrationoffender.A later article published in the New Statesman 350 in November 2004 revealed that suchstops are usually initiated under the guise of ticket inspections, but once apprehended, asuspect is subjected to questioning by immigration officials. Official policy on thispractice is difficult to locate, although each of these stops should be fully recorded.Immigration officials are not subject to the same reporting procedures as police officers,and the Home Office has stated that: “the data is not collated centrally because it isimpractical and expensive”.Such “street operations”, as the Home Office has named them, are joint police andimmigration operations. According to one ticket inspector, the officials target ethnicminorities, notably Asian people or those of Eastern European origin. This has causedan understandable degree of unease amongst employees of the transport system. TheNew Statesman article reveals that many Underground workers have complained aboutthe operations, particularly one that was conducted outside Whitechapel tube station,targeting Bangladeshi people. The nature of the spot checks seems to be highly intrusiveand individuals have been detained for ‘up to forty minutes’ in public, while theirdetails are checked and their fingerprints taken on the new portable scanners. As thearticle in the New Statesman highlighted, white Australians, New Zealanders or SouthAfricans are not affected by these “street operations”, which gives a clear indication ofthe racial bias.349 ‘1,000 Illegal migrants arrested in Swoops’, Alan Travis, Home Affairs Editor, September 15, 2004,http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1304719,00.html350 ‘Police State’, Tom Wall, New Statesman, November 22, 2004.