Posted on 03/26/2008 12:33:44 PM PDT by Stoat
A muslim leader has accused the police of failing to tackle Asian gangs suspected of prostituting young white girls.
Officers are accused of being "over cautious" when investigating Muslim criminals because they fear being branded racist.
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Prostitutes: Becoming easy targets for Asian pimping gangs
Last night Mohammed Shafiq, director of the Ramadhan Foundation, said the police were differentiating between criminals on the basis of race.
He claimed, driven by fear of race riots in places like Blackburn and Oldham, officers were "overtly sensitive" and not clamping down on the sordid practice.
His controversial comments in this week's Panorama reignite a massively controversial issue which exploded over a Channel 4 documentary in 2004.
That programme which claimed Asian men in Bradford were grooming under age white girls for prostitution was pulled from C4's schedules.
This was because police claimed at the time that it could provoke racial violence during the local election campaign.
Now the BBC is to risk the wrath of police officials and campaigners by airing a programme which will look at the same issue.
Speaking as part of the Panorama investigation, which airs tomorrow (Thursday), Shafiq said: "I think the police are overcautious on dealing with this issue openly because they fear being branded racist and I think that is wrong."
"These are criminals they should be treated as criminals. They are not Asian criminals, they are not Muslim criminals, they are not white criminals. They are criminals and they should be treated as criminals."
He said that some of the criminals were Asian gangs looking to supplement their income, after the cost of drugs has fallen over the last few years.
Shafiq said "I am the only Muslim leader in the UK that speaks up against this sort of thing and I do it because these teenage girls are somebody's sisters and they are somebody's daughters. I have got two daughters and I wouldn't want that to happen to my daughters.
"If there is a drug dealer grooming a white teenager into prostitution then I don't want the police service or local authority not to be open about it."
Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, also raised concerns about the issue yesterday.
He said: "Everybody is affected by political correctness. The reason why it is so important is because things like this.
"Young girls are having their lives threatened and ruined because people pussyfoot around and they are too scared to do anything in case they make a mistake and are accused of racism.
"That's why we have to tackle the culture of political correctness everybody is affected by and I think the police are probably more affected and hamstrung by it than most organisations."
His comments come as Professor David Barrett of University of Bedfordshire also raised deep concerns about the issue in the BBC1 programme.
He claimed evidence suggested that those operating the practice were "absolutely" likely to get away with it.
The programme will controversially reveal the ethnic pattern of the crime which is largely Asian in northern England, Afro-Caribbean in the West Midlands and elsewhere white, Turkish and Kurdish.
The Government, reacting to concerns, has revealed it will introduce new crime-fighting targets aimed at specifically combating the little-publicised problem.
But there are concerns that the practice, mostly operated by drug dealing gangs, has been of little priority to the various authorities.
Figures suggest there are in the region of 5,000 British children being used as prostitutes.
On the programme Vernon Coaker under secretary of state with responsibility for policing reveals the new measures will be come into force next month.
The government also plans to introduce a new warning video for use in schools over the issue.
But despite funding a Home Office study almost ten years ago which revealed how the problem can be tackled, the police has a low prosecution rate.
Coaker told Panorama that using powers under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 there have been just 44 convictions for grooming and pimping young children.
Police attempts are said to be frustrated by a code of silence.
*Panorama airs on Thursday 27th March on BBC1 at 10.35pm.
A very sad state of affairs, but one voice is certainly better than none at all.
Here in the USA, I can't recall hearing minority 'leaders' encouraging police to not worry about being labeled racist when doing their job; usually it's quite the contrary.
Muslims still enslaving Europeans in the country that spearheaded the movement to make slavery illegal.
Anglo Saxon(White) England is Dead,Dead, Dead,and done.
Prove otherwise anybody.Dead.
Perhaps they should call in the archbishop of Canterbury to mediate the situation </ sarc >
NO, not THAT! Oh, the humanity!
“Asian Gangs”
What crap! They’re MUSLIMS! This is ISLAM!
Sort of like the “black Frensh youths”
NO, not THAT! Oh, the humanity!
The reaction to this broadcast should be interesting to watch.
Here in the USA, anyone who dares to publicly cite official Department of Justice crime stats showing racial figures is typically shouted down, branded a racist and has their career destroyed. The article suggests that the climate of racial hysteria is similar in the UK., at least in this regard.
Hopefully the Panorama program will be quickly put up on the 'net as a Torrent so that people all over the world can see it....it sounds like quite a compelling broadcast. I found the Panorama expose's of Scientology to be well worth my time...they didn't appear to shrink from the tough questions and it appears that this forthcoming program will ruffle a few feathers as well, which in this context is quite a good thing.
It seems to me that information about crime/race statistics in the U.S. is just blanked out. Thomas Sowell and Larry Elder, among others, regularly mention this information in their articles and radio appearances, but it never seems to reach the consciousness of the general public.
To some extent, I don’t think this is bad. The important thing about a criminal is that he’s committed a crime, not his skin color or ethnicity. On the other hand, if crime is concentrated in immigrant populations or welfare populations, this should (ha ha) motivate governments and voters to reconsider welfare and immigration policies.
It will be very interesting to see whether simply stating that Pakistani Moslems are running child prostitution rings in some parts of Britain will cause rioting among Moslems - and whether the other groups mentioned, Caribbean Blacks and Turks, are also going to react to being identified with crime.
Unfortunately, it's long been the case that the only people "allowed" to mention such things are minorities, and Dr. Sowell and Mr. Elder, being black, can get away with it without having their careers destroyed although because they approach the matter from a Conservative viewpoint, their views are poo-poohed by the Leftist dominant media and generally sneered at....so, the information never gets beyond Conservative circles and the problems they speak of remain largely neglected as a result.
To some extent, I dont think this is bad. The important thing about a criminal is that hes committed a crime, not his skin color or ethnicity. On the other hand, if crime is concentrated in immigrant populations or welfare populations, this should (ha ha) motivate governments and voters to reconsider welfare and immigration policies.
In a perfect world, when there's a criminal activity overwhelmingly associated with a particular ethnic group I think that it would be helpful to identify the situation as such, as this would allow police to focus their limited resources in the most advantageous manner and would allow any forthright ethnic community leaders to step up to the task and work toward addressing those concerns of that community. As innumerable Conservative pundits have mentioned, racial profiling does indeed work in many circumstances, but it's a political non-starter.
Unfortunately, the world is far from perfect and if police were to even THINK of focusing their resources along ethnic / racial lines, the howling that would erupt from those communities would deafen everyone on the planet. Similarly, I haven't seen evidence of the existence of any ethnic 'leaders' here in the USA who are so very forthright that they would welcome such a focus on their community, and so the problems continue.
It will be very interesting to see whether simply stating that Pakistani Moslems are running child prostitution rings in some parts of Britain will cause rioting among Moslems - and whether the other groups mentioned, Caribbean Blacks and Turks, are also going to react to being identified with crime.
Indeed it will. As is to be expected from the ultra-PC BBC, the racial / ethnic component of this matter is not mentioned at all at this program's Panorama page and so it will be a surprise to many when the program airs.
Good point. The same journalists have observed that communities with "leaders" are in trouble, because there's no payoff for "leaders" if the individuals make their own decisions about their own priorities.
notice to all when you hear or read asians from the UK media then they really mena paki muslims
Now some PC fools say it’s alright to say kurd for kurdish
turk for turkish
brit for brtish
, afghan for afghani
but the PC police say saying paki for pakistani is racist, stupid isn’t it
so remember they mean paki muslims are doing this
now to some credit to him for at least speaking up
this is true and it has been and has been going on for years
Said it before the police are pathetic in the UK believe me I am from there
They ignore so called their area’s, they ignore arranged marriage, they have ignored the honour killings done by muslims for the most part and of those stories get out the police down play the muslims angle
only recently I called the police in scotland asking why a musloms man has not been charged for having more than one wife
I’m still waiting for an outcome on that
Is it any wonder why more and more people are voting for the british national party, a party the left , the bbc, the guardian etc say is racist because they believe britian is for the british and the british way of life not a muslim one
if you see a link for this could you send it to me please stoat
(Here in this written introduction they don't go into the race issue as the Mail does, but when you watch the program they do discuss it, although beginning only toward the latter part of the report. Unlike some other BBC video which are blocked to IP addresses outside of the UK, this one plays fine on my computer here in the USA. The first link below is a direct link which opens up a window with a video player, the second link takes you to the program's web page which has the player link there as well)
BBC NEWS Programmes Panorama Teenage Sex For Sale Panorama
Teenage Sex For Sale: Panorama |
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In what is often a hidden crime, gangs are targeting young girls in a process that starts as adolescent fun but soon leads to abuse, drug addiction and prostitution. The girls are often flattered by the attentions of older boys and like the idea of having an older boyfriend, but the initial friendship can soon turn ugly. We spoke to "Jane" who got caught up with one of the gangs. She told Panorama that it all started when she met a group of boys in the local town centre: "The grooming starts when you meet them and they're nice to you and take you for McDonalds and buy you cigarettes. I was flattered by it at first cos older boys were interested in you, which at 13 is nice." But things took a sinister turn when the boys brought their friends, who were older, and Jane realised she'd been passed on. The abuse started with Jane being held down by two of the men while another raped her. She was too scared to tell her parents and within weeks she was trapped and pimped, being forced to have unprotected sex with a succession of men day after day. She explains how the gang introduced her to drugs, building up a debt that had to be worked off by sleeping with lots of different men. Although the gang was making money from Jane, she never saw a penny of it. All this time, Jane was still living at home and her parents had no idea what was going on. She eventually found the strength to leave the gang, despite the threats against her and her family. She reported the case to the police but later withdrew her allegations, worried that the police could not guarantee her safety. The case was investigated but the police said they couldn't find enough evidence for a prosecution. Hidden crime Police have had success in breaking up gangs who've trafficked young women into the UK for the sex trade. And grooming of children by predators on the internet has rightly gained a huge amount of attention. But British girls being moved around the country for abuse has attracted almost no attention. The pimping of children doesn't appear anywhere on the government's official targets for the police. Chief Constable Timothy Brain, Association of Chief Police Officers lead on prostitution explained why:
But the Home Office have known about the problem for years. A decade ago officials were so concerned about child prostitution that police and social services pilot projects were set up in Wolverhampton and Nottingham to learn how to tackle it. In Wolverhampton the team was led by Det Sgt Lyndon Whitehouse: "Over an 18-month period we investigated 91 cases. In 71 of those we uncovered evidence of coercion and exploitation. In 35 cases we brought a prosecution, 35 individual adults were charged with offences in connection with the exploitation of children for prostitution and virtually all of those people were convicted." His team showed how these crimes could be tackled not only in Wolverhampton, but throughout the country as they tracked gangs taking young girls from city to city. Understaffed Today the situation is bleak. We've only been able to find two police forces in the United Kingdom that have dedicated units working with other agencies. In Blackburn, the new police unit fighting child prostitution works with social services, education and health teams. But does it have enough officers for the task? We asked the Home Office, if, a decade after the pilot project in Wolverhampton and Nottingham demonstrated the problem could be tackled, the government was doing enough. Vernon Coaker MP, Under-Secretary of State for Policing, responded: "I'm saying we have done better in terms of the support we give to victims, if we talk to police and prosecutors we know it's a difficult area to prosecute. Part of the problem is how we give the confidence to the victims in order to give evidence." And the government points to a rising annual number of successful prosecutions for child grooming and prostitution offences, Vernon Coaker said: "It's 44 people convicted under the 2003 Act. We look back to the eight years under the old Act... the eight years before 2003 [and] there were actually just six convictions." The next day the Home Office told Panorama to confirm that pimping children will be covered in new police targets and the government has said it will produce a warning video for use in all schools. Meanwhile, one of the oldest crimes in history continues to threaten children at the threshold of adult life. Teenage Sex For Sale: Panorama BBC One 10.35pm on Thursday 27 March 2008. If you have been affected by the issues raised, you can call the Coalition for the Removal of Pimping helpline on 0113 240 3040. |
In case you haven’t seen this Panorama program, please see the post above.
(Don’t watch it if you are looking for something uplifting and optimistic, however)
Thanks, stoat! I’ll have a look at it this evening. Just reading the article, the first question that came to mind was what are the police doing with their time, if not pursuing this type of organized crime?
Who would have thought that the Brits would submit to islam without a fight. All that is left is for them to start paying that infidel tax.
You're quite welcome, although you may wish to see it after dinner as it will most likely take your appetite away. Terribly sad and depressing.
Just reading the article, the first question that came to mind was what are the police doing with their time, if not pursuing this type of organized crime?
If crimefighting were left up to the officers on the streets and they were allowed to do the jobs that they know needs to be done, I have no doubt that problems such as this would be dealt with far more effectively and not shacked by PC politics as it is now. Too many politician / managers and not enough law enforcers.
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Police hold DNA of 4.5m Britons - adding 1m to database over just 10 months
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Good point. (And losing my appetite would be a good thing :-).
Your humility is admirable, but I happen to know for a fact that ALL FReeper ladies look like Raquel Welch did in 1967 and are in no need of dieting or any other similar abuse :-)
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