September 19, 2003	Friday	Rajab 21, 1424

LONDON: The London Metropolitan police was last week plunged into its biggest crisis over race since the damning Macpherson report when its own black officers warned ethnic minority people not to join the force.

The Metropolitan Black Police Association’s decision followed the acquittal on all charges of Superintendent Ali Dizaei, 40, once tipped to be the first ethnic minority chief constable. Mr Dizaei was the subject of a four-year investigation by the Met into allegations that he endangered national security, abused drugs and used prostitutes. All proved baseless.

The MBPA chairman, Chief Inspector Leroy Logan, said his members will boycott the force’s drive to recruit more Asian and black officers until an inquiry establishes who was to blame.

Mr Dizaei’s supporters accused Scotland Yard of a racist witch-hunt after Mr Dizaei, a vocal critic of the force, was cleared of corruption following a multimillion-pound investigation involving phone intercepts and surveillance.

In April he was cleared of charges alleging that he had abused his office and perverted the course of justice.

The other day he walked free after the prosecution decided to offer no evidence three weeks before a trial over allegations of fiddling his expenses.

The CPS had ignored claims that it had no evidence and decided to try him for falsely claiming pounds sterling 846 in motoring expenses. That decision to press ahead cost an estimated pounds sterling 500,000; previous court and investigation costs had totalled up to pounds sterling seven million.

The crown said that it was dropping the charges because there was so little chance of a guilty verdict.

“This is the saddest day for the Met post-Macpherson,” said Mr Logan. “At this time black and Asian people shouldn’t join the Met. We’re fed up with a load of platitudes and spin from the commissioner downwards.”

The 1999 Macpherson report into the bungled Stephen Lawrence murder investigation branded the Met as institutionally racist.

Reforms after Macpherson meant the Met had to boost the number of ethnic minority officers to 25 per cent of its total by 2009. The figure is currently 5.7 per cent.

The decision by Asian and black officers to boycott the Met’s recruitment drive also challenges the government, which sees the programme as a key reform to stamp out racism within the ranks.

Mr Dizaei, suspended since January 2001, still faces disciplinary charges, including an allegation that he accepted money for giving advice.

He called for them to be dropped and told the Guardian: “I want to wear my uniform and walk back to Scotland Yard as soon as possible. I’m not going to take the money, shake hands and go. I love the police service.”

Mr Dizaei is suing the force for racial discrimination at an employment tribunal and says some in the force tried to destroy his life and career.

A leading Met source said the pain for the force could drag on for years. “We will go to discipline, find him guilty, an employment tribunal will turn it over, that will take two and a half years, and this will ratchet the bill up to pounds sterling 2m or 3m because he would have been a chief constable.”

Anti-corruption officers hunted Mr Dizaei over two continents, even enlisting the FBI, Canadian police and the security services. Conservative MP Peter Bottomley called on the Commons home affairs select committee to investigate.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.