The Traveller Movement has complained to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan–Howe over racist comments posted on a popular but closed Facebook group called ‘I’ve met the Met’ used primarily by serving and retired Metropolitan Police Officers.
The charity, which campaigns for the recognition and inclusion of the UK’s Gypsy and Travellers, was passed screenshots of three threads discussing Gypsies and Travellers which included racist comments such as “I fucking hate pikeys”.
On one thread the posters, using what appear to be their real names, discuss the recent decision by the BBC Trust to not censure Top Gear for using the racist term ‘pikey’. The thread is started by a poster who puts up the link to a news story on this and then states:
“I never knew a pikey could be offended. I thought they were devoid of all feelings and thoughts…just my feelings after years of dealings with these despicable people. Who call themselves travellers yet never travel…”
The next poster says: “You know when they are lying their lips move…”
Another poster says “I fucking hate pikeys.”
All three threads contain shocking racist comments towards Gypsies and Travellers in general and racist and bullying ‘banter’.
The Traveller Movement believes that the administrators of the 3,000 strong FB group for retired and serving police officers are condoning the racism by not tackling it.
Two of the threads – the two that cause the most concern to The Traveller Movement, can be seen by following the links below.
In a letter sent on 29th June to Sir Bernard Hogan–Howe, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, the Traveller Movement raised the threads as a formal complaint. The Traveller Movement stated in their letter that they were “extremely concerned to find that the racism that Gypsy and Traveller individuals face on an endemic and chronic basis is present within this Facebook group.”
The Traveller Movement warned the Commissioner that the comments reflected a “canteen culture of racism towards Romany Gypsies and Travellers which must be tackled root and branch”. The Traveller Movement and the Gypsy Roma Traveller Police Association has called for a meeting with Police Chiefs where it will also be raising the growing practice of racial and family profiling of Gypsy and Traveller people.
The Metropolitan Police is examining allegations that serving officers used a closed group on the social network to post racist comments about Gypsies and Travellers. Both groups are officially recognised as ethnic minorities, and discriminating against them is illegal.
Police officers could be prosecuted if they are found to have broken the law, and will also face professional misconduct inquiries, Scotland Yard said. But the force was urged to launch a wider review amid claims that racism against both groups has become “endemic” and “part of police culture”.
Yvonne MacNamara, CEO of the Traveller Movement, said the Facebook comments were “shocking”. She added: “The fact that they are potentially made by serving and retired police officers gives us no confidence at all in the Metropolitan Police’s ability to both police these communities and to attract and protect its own staff who are from Gypsy and Traveller backgrounds.
Jim Davies, Chair of the Gypsy Roma Traveller Police Association (GRTPA) – a membership organisation that represents GRT officers and staff – said:
“This is a sad indictment of the police service. I say the police service because although this has come from the Met, the truth is it could relate to any number of UK forces. Racism towards Gypsies and Travellers is endemic and is part of police culture. It has been allowed to fester and spread unchallenged for years and the effect on the lives Gypsies and Travellers working within the police service is disastrous.”
Two of the redacted threads on ‘I’ve met the Met’, one of which discusses the recent BBC Trust decision to dismiss the Traveller Movement’s complaint about the repeated use of the word ‘p*key’, can be seen by following these links: