London police officers fired after stop, search of Black sprinters،
LONDON — Two London Metropolitan Police officers were fired Wednesday after a disciplinary panel concluded they committed serious misconduct following the stop and search of two black athletes.
Bianca Williams and Ricardo Dos Santos, both professional sprinters, complained to the police watchdog that they were racially profiled by a group of police officers on July 4, 2020.
The couple were returning home to London with their 3-month-old son in the backseat when police followed their car and arrested them outside their home. The athletes were handcuffed and searched on suspicion of being in possession of drugs and weapons, but nothing was found.
The disciplinary committee heard that police officers said they followed the athletes’ vehicle because of Dos Santos’ “appalling” and “suspicious” conduct and that they had done their duty when they carried out the stop and search .
But the committee concluded that two of the officers, Jonathan Clapham and Sam Franks, lied about the smell of cannabis during the incident.
Committee chairman Chiew Yin Jones said their conduct breached standards of professional behavior regarding honesty and integrity, and both men were dismissed without notice.
Three other officers were cleared of violating standards.
Williams, a sprint relay gold medalist at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and 2018 European Championships, filmed the incident and the video was widely shared online. She said she hoped the hearing would lead the Metropolitan Police to be “more honest” about its “culture of racism”.
Dos Santos said after Wednesday’s hearing that he believed he was accused of “bad conduct, threats of violence and drugs” based on “racial stereotypes.”
“We have supported the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) case for the past three years and it has highlighted what most black people are all too aware of, regardless of their background, education and employment” , he told reporters. “They are nine times more likely to be arrested by the Met and three times more likely to be handcuffed.”
The Metropolitan Police, the UK’s largest police force, has been the target of allegations of institutional racism and sexism in recent years. In March, an independent review said the force had lost public trust due to entrenched “homophobia, misogyny and racism” and needed to restructure.
