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'Powderkeg' report was ignored by the police
by Jonathan Brocklebank
Scottish Daily Mail
March 22, 2004, p. 5.
AN internal police report which warned of a rising tide of crime in Pollokshields' Asian community was shelved, by senior officers, it emerged yesterday.
The detailed report named 220 people in the area who could pose a threat to the community.
One of the names on the list was Imran Shahid.
But the 1998 dossier was sidelined by senior officers who feared being accused of racism.
The report, from an intelligence gathering exercise codenamed Operation Barber, highlighted a hard core of Asians who had become 'almost lawless' and warned the area was a powderkeg of tension.
It said: 'Unfortunately, the younger Asians have a high regard for this group and appear to be trying to emulate them.'
And it concluded: 'The crime problem within the Asian community will therefore spiral unless a pro-active criminal intelligence-based stance aimed at curbing criminal activity is adopted.'
But last night a source close to the report said such a stance was never adopted.
He added: 'It was made clear to us there was a danger of the force being accused of racism if it acted on the information contained in the investigation. Some felt that was the wrong attitude.'
Last night John Stalker, a former Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police with wide experience of race-related issues, warned that police forces ignored evidence of a growing culture of gang warfare at their peril. He said: 'Strathclyde Police, being accustomed to sectarian tensions, should be very well placed to deal with this.
'I don't know about them treading on eggshells so as not to offend people, but the point is you don't have to offend anyone. There are ways of doing it without kicking doors in.
'In the big cities south of the Border there have been occasions where police forces, to their long-term detriment, have let incipient gang warfare spiral out of control. Had action been taken, mini-wars could have been stopped much earlier on.
'Any police force that ignores evidence of incipient gang warfare is doomed to take panic measures further down the line.
'If left alone, gangs will keep pushing the system until they are stopped. You soon get the situation which exists in London, Birmingham and Manchester where firearms are used to settle relatively minor matters.
'Where once they would have resulted in a punch-up, they are now being dealt with by a sub-machinegun.'
'Politically incorrect' crackdown on gangs dropped by murder hunt police (excerpt)
by Dan McDougall
The Scotsman
19 March 2004
STRATHCLYDE Police abandoned a high-level investigation to clamp down on the emergence of an Asian gang culture in Glasgow after the operation was deemed to be politically incorrect.
The revelation came as Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National Party, prompted outrage by announcing a visit to Glasgow this weekend, days after a teenager was abducted and murdered, allegedly by a gang of Asian youths.
Police and community leaders in the Pollokshields area of Glasgow called for calm, following rising public concern over the kidnap and murder of Kriss Donald, 15.
As detectives continued the hunt for his killers, The Scotsman learned that Operation Gadher, a police investigation designed to tackle the growth of Asian gang culture in the city's southside, was stopped six months ago over fears that it wasn't politically correct.
Speaking yesterday, a police source said the operation, launched by Strathclyde's G Division, which covers Pollokshields, had been halted by senior officers. He said: "Gang culture among Asians has been causing the police concern for some time, and we did have a dedicated team looking at it, but six months ago a number of senior officers got cold feet, claiming it didn't look good to be solely investigating Asian gangs.
"The decision wasn't welcomed in the station."
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