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Bal Singh case
angers Asians in the UK
WSN Network
LONDON:
One of the highest ranking Asian officers in Greater Manchester
Police force is taking his employers to a tribunal alleging racial
discrimination.
Detective Inspector
Bal Singh, who has has been decorated for his service to the police,
is suspended and has been under investigation for eight months.
He was arrested by
the GMP internal investigations department last November and accused
of money laundering. The charge was dropped in February but despite
this he says he is still threatened with disciplinary action over
two minor traffic offences.
His case has become
a source of anger and concern among the Asian community and, among
Asian and black officers in GMP who feel his ordeal is being
prolonged un-necessarily.
But GMP deny these
charges and say they will “robustly” defend the force against any
allegations of racial at an employment tribunal.
His arrest took
place 10 days before he was to take the last stage of a Home Office
career development scheme which would have allowed him to reach the
rank of superintendent. This suspension prevented his attendance.
A recent internal
report admitted that a “disproportionate” number of visible minority
ethnic (VME) police officers had been involved in disciplinary
proceedings. It found that while Asian and black officers make-up
four per cent of GMP they make-up more that 10 per cent of the
officers subject to disciplinary investigations.
At the same time in
London a report commissioned by the Metropolitan Police alleges
Muslim officers are more likely than non-Muslims to be corrupt. A
senior Asian officer who compiled the report suggested that cultural
traditions may account for higher levels of corruption among Asians.
It argued that
Pakistani origin officers in particular were under pressure because
they were expected to finance their entire extended family. The
report has caused widespread outrage among Asian and black officers
in the Met.
Bal Singh, one of
only a few Asian or black members of the Greater Manchester Police
force to rise through the ranks to become an Inspector, had an
outstandingly successful career recognised when he was chosen to
greet Tony Blair when he visited GMP headquarters recently.
8 November 2006
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