N.O.R.F Posted July 9, 2008 Does a black graduate's gunpoint ordeal at Bournemouth station lift the ugly corners of racial profiling, or were the police using common sense? July 9, 2008 11:57 AM He was black. He was wearing a black t-shirt with orange writing. And at 6.10pm on Saturday, Nzube Udezue, a 21-year-old Oxford University graduate, was face down on the platform at Bournemouth station with guns pointed at his head. Ah yes - he was also innocent. Leaving aside the fact that Udezue, an aspiring rap artist known among his mates as Zuby, has endured a lyric-inspiring experience to make even Jay-Z jealous, what do you think of what happened? Racism? Police brutality? Or, as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) decided after just a few hours consideration, were the actions of Dorset police "appropriate and proportionate to the circumstances"? Glancing at the chain of events that led up to Udezue's wrongful arrest, you might side with the IPCC - even though there are reasons to be distrustful of the complaints body. But look at the detail. This is how Saturday's events unfolded: 3.49pm A man waves an imitation firearm in the air at an indoor shopping centre in Basingstoke. Hampshire police later circulate a description of the man. 5.24pm Thirty miles away in Southampton, Udezue, a recent computer science graduate, boards a train headed for Bournemouth. So far it has been a normal day for Udezue, selling his CDs. He sits down and listens to his iPod. At some point, plain clothes British Transport police decide Udezue could have been involved in the Basingstoke incident. 6.09pm Uzebue's train pulls into Bournemouth station, where a specialist team of officers are waiting, guns poised. He is arrested and taken to police station. Suspecting that an armed man was on the train, can the cops be blamed for this reaction? I assume the view inside Dorset constabulary, where an internal inquiry is under way with "supervision" from the IPCC, is that their boys made the right call. The local Conservative MP, Tobias Ellwood, told me he would be standing behind the police. He pointed out that despite Udezue's dramatic account of his experience on his blog, he has not lodged any formal complaint. But should we be asking more questions? The imitation firearms incident took place in Basingstoke. Udezue boarded his train in Southampton. Shouldn't that have made officers think twice? Dorset police were only told about the imitation firearm incident "just before" the train pulled in. Why the two-hour delay? Crucially, exactly what description led the plain clothes officer to identify Udezue as a potentially armed criminal? And then there's that question that no one has so far asked: are there issues here to do with racial profiling? I'm proposing an answer to this, but take a look at Zuby's website for a flavour of his hip-hop image. Better still, check out his YouTube music video, set to the quaint background of Oxford University. Do you think the police reaction would have been the same if Udezue matched the description of a white commuter in a suit? http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/news/2008/07/black_man_in_a_black_tshirt.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
