Is British police guilty of racial segregation, torture?
Jun 08, 2004
<b>YOUR PLATFORM:</b><br>Winston Churchill once said, “the civilization of a nation can be judged by the discipline of its police force.â€<br>
Winston Churchill once said, “the civilization of a nation can be judged by the discipline of its police force.â€
As a student, in Britain the challenge of transforming into a society were you could be discriminated by colour, origin, health, size or sexual orientation dawned on me. I rented a house together with others among who was a White Briton male.
In a way it was a blessing for I could derive an understanding of the British multi-cultural society from close quarters, till I suffered racial discrimination to unacceptable limits.
It all began with a housemate who suffered mood swings (he was nice and trouble when he chose to be), I excused his behavior to personal challenges and ignorance. This man was a loner, divorced, lowly educated and had a normal job (bin man/driver). He had never travelled much but true to lecturism dominant of the western society, he could tell you all the causes of poverty, war and hunger in Africa.
For reasons best known to himself he choose to call me Chris even though that wasn’t my name and took great skill in eyeing or call it gazing at me whenever he had the opportunity. He further took on the habit of picking at me with racial abuses. I thought his actions or inaction were a cry for attention and considered this immature and it was punishment enough to ignore his moaning.
True, he once married and all the moaning stopped for a while but erupted into fights and frequent visits to the house by the police. This man’s domestic errands once took him into breaking into a female housemates room one night and despite this, he qualified on another occasion as only witness to give statement during investigations into a rape attempt of the same female, irrespective of the fact he was not alone in the house at the time.
New housemates, usually immigrants, came and left for Britain is a free society, but this did not help his erratic behavior. He bullied, abused and belittled the African but one day he crossed the margins, he physically assaulted me spitting saliva in my face. I was angry but fearful of the development in his behavior and chose to file a complaint to the police station.
The police did not take the issue lightly and hence forwarded it to the “Community protection Unitâ€.
A month later without hearing from the police, he erupted again, abused and threatened me by being physical. I did not take this lightly and called the police right away around 1:00pm but they were bogged down with logistics and appeared at 8:00pm the same day. I explained but my assault wasn’t at the house and the best option the police gave was to leave the house.
That night I resolved to make a personal follow up, I believed in a civil society and that the police could do more then they had, a caution or counsel as my assailant probably could do a lot especially, by the fact that he had boasted of my inability to deter his actions.
The police had expressed their inability to force my assailant to seek professional help, that it was him to seek help voluntarily.
I went down to the station the following morning.
At the station I learnt that the initial case reported on June 4, 2003 was closed on the note that, partly read “the investigating officer did come to my house and after a discussion with both the complainant and the accused. The complainant doesn’t wish to proceed with charges.†This was not true, he had never been to the house neither had I ever had any prior discussion with the same officer. This was gross abuse of office. Forgery impersonation, etc.
I was upset and by the fact the a law enforcing officer was deliberately not doing his job. I expressed my intention of forwarding a complaint to the Police Compliant Authority.
It is my opinion to this day that this expression denied me of my stay in Britain. I was subsequently detained against my will and interrogated and threatened for about four hours. A written statement was put before me for signature, but trust a Ugandan, I demanded to peruse through before signing and this even made the officers less pleased as they rejected the request.
On realising I was in “deeper troubleâ€, I called the emergency 999 number but the operators chose instead to speak to the officers. I even called the crime stopper’s hotline but trust the British establishment, they do not deal with such cases, I was told.
I dialed the 999 number again using my mobile phone and even informed the operators what I had overheard them plan, that is to arrest me with attempted breaking into a police station. But trust these lads, they beat, kicked and arrested me under section 136 Mental Health Act.
I was handcuffed, transported to hospital. I was demobilised by pain half way to the hospital ward and requested a rest. This was cut short after the police officer pushed me from the bench slumping onto the floor chest first. I was then carried in hand cuffs Kandoya style. The cuff chains substituting the traditional rope.
The hands acting like bag strips to my body. At the hospital despite being historically “blessed†with a mental health problem, I was discharged for not being section-able, to my relief.
Without you giving undue weight to my disability. I failed to come to terms with the happenings of the day. I have tried to seek justice but either the British are too embarrassed or they do not care since I am not one of their citizens.
I will name the police station, as Hanwell CPU in west London. The investigating officers as PC Streeter or Stuart or Strang, PC F Mgough,PC Lagen and their supervisor, who given the opportunity, I could identify.
If assaulted in the United Kingdom, don’t say so at the hospitals. I was deliberately either denied appropriate treatment or given “soothers†in a deliberate effort to distort the extent of my injuries at three different hospitals.
I was harassed by paramedics and I overheard a doctor discuss the fact that I had fractures that could heal in two to three weeks with painkillers. I complained to the hospital, applied for legal aid to assess legal guidance but none seemed to act.
Even the racial discrimination commission was too stretched for any new cases. I got increasingly frustrated and worried by the day by the turn of events and subseqently left the United Kingdom.
Next time a dear one dies abroad or are sectioned under the mental health Act in Britain where the police and the National Health Services are involved, it could be a deliberate effort by a civil society.
Stephen Guweddeko
guweddeko@yahoo.co.uk
As a student, in Britain the challenge of transforming into a society were you could be discriminated by colour, origin, health, size or sexual orientation dawned on me. I rented a house together with others among who was a White Briton male.
In a way it was a blessing for I could derive an understanding of the British multi-cultural society from close quarters, till I suffered racial discrimination to unacceptable limits.
It all began with a housemate who suffered mood swings (he was nice and trouble when he chose to be), I excused his behavior to personal challenges and ignorance. This man was a loner, divorced, lowly educated and had a normal job (bin man/driver). He had never travelled much but true to lecturism dominant of the western society, he could tell you all the causes of poverty, war and hunger in Africa.
For reasons best known to himself he choose to call me Chris even though that wasn’t my name and took great skill in eyeing or call it gazing at me whenever he had the opportunity. He further took on the habit of picking at me with racial abuses. I thought his actions or inaction were a cry for attention and considered this immature and it was punishment enough to ignore his moaning.
True, he once married and all the moaning stopped for a while but erupted into fights and frequent visits to the house by the police. This man’s domestic errands once took him into breaking into a female housemates room one night and despite this, he qualified on another occasion as only witness to give statement during investigations into a rape attempt of the same female, irrespective of the fact he was not alone in the house at the time.
New housemates, usually immigrants, came and left for Britain is a free society, but this did not help his erratic behavior. He bullied, abused and belittled the African but one day he crossed the margins, he physically assaulted me spitting saliva in my face. I was angry but fearful of the development in his behavior and chose to file a complaint to the police station.
The police did not take the issue lightly and hence forwarded it to the “Community protection Unitâ€.
A month later without hearing from the police, he erupted again, abused and threatened me by being physical. I did not take this lightly and called the police right away around 1:00pm but they were bogged down with logistics and appeared at 8:00pm the same day. I explained but my assault wasn’t at the house and the best option the police gave was to leave the house.
That night I resolved to make a personal follow up, I believed in a civil society and that the police could do more then they had, a caution or counsel as my assailant probably could do a lot especially, by the fact that he had boasted of my inability to deter his actions.
The police had expressed their inability to force my assailant to seek professional help, that it was him to seek help voluntarily.
I went down to the station the following morning.
At the station I learnt that the initial case reported on June 4, 2003 was closed on the note that, partly read “the investigating officer did come to my house and after a discussion with both the complainant and the accused. The complainant doesn’t wish to proceed with charges.†This was not true, he had never been to the house neither had I ever had any prior discussion with the same officer. This was gross abuse of office. Forgery impersonation, etc.
I was upset and by the fact the a law enforcing officer was deliberately not doing his job. I expressed my intention of forwarding a complaint to the Police Compliant Authority.
It is my opinion to this day that this expression denied me of my stay in Britain. I was subsequently detained against my will and interrogated and threatened for about four hours. A written statement was put before me for signature, but trust a Ugandan, I demanded to peruse through before signing and this even made the officers less pleased as they rejected the request.
On realising I was in “deeper troubleâ€, I called the emergency 999 number but the operators chose instead to speak to the officers. I even called the crime stopper’s hotline but trust the British establishment, they do not deal with such cases, I was told.
I dialed the 999 number again using my mobile phone and even informed the operators what I had overheard them plan, that is to arrest me with attempted breaking into a police station. But trust these lads, they beat, kicked and arrested me under section 136 Mental Health Act.
I was handcuffed, transported to hospital. I was demobilised by pain half way to the hospital ward and requested a rest. This was cut short after the police officer pushed me from the bench slumping onto the floor chest first. I was then carried in hand cuffs Kandoya style. The cuff chains substituting the traditional rope.
The hands acting like bag strips to my body. At the hospital despite being historically “blessed†with a mental health problem, I was discharged for not being section-able, to my relief.
Without you giving undue weight to my disability. I failed to come to terms with the happenings of the day. I have tried to seek justice but either the British are too embarrassed or they do not care since I am not one of their citizens.
I will name the police station, as Hanwell CPU in west London. The investigating officers as PC Streeter or Stuart or Strang, PC F Mgough,PC Lagen and their supervisor, who given the opportunity, I could identify.
If assaulted in the United Kingdom, don’t say so at the hospitals. I was deliberately either denied appropriate treatment or given “soothers†in a deliberate effort to distort the extent of my injuries at three different hospitals.
I was harassed by paramedics and I overheard a doctor discuss the fact that I had fractures that could heal in two to three weeks with painkillers. I complained to the hospital, applied for legal aid to assess legal guidance but none seemed to act.
Even the racial discrimination commission was too stretched for any new cases. I got increasingly frustrated and worried by the day by the turn of events and subseqently left the United Kingdom.
Next time a dear one dies abroad or are sectioned under the mental health Act in Britain where the police and the National Health Services are involved, it could be a deliberate effort by a civil society.
Stephen Guweddeko
guweddeko@yahoo.co.uk