Have you ever heard of “PC John Kent”

#BlackPoliceArchive – The National Black Police Association (NBPA) attaches huge significance to the discovery of John Kents “aka Black Kent” career, which it says is totally unexpected.

“The significance is that while we had people of colour joining that far back, it took until 2003 before we had the first black chief constable [Kent’s Mike Fuller],” said David McFarlane, the then NBPA’s national co-ordinator.

“A lot of people are under the misapprehension that black people only arrived here during the Windrush years [1940s and 1950s], or when the Asians came in the 1970s, but people of colour have been in this country for centuries.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-black-police-officer-who-pounded-the-beat-150-years-ago-420863.html

See the Guardian News article

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/feb/03/britain-19th-century-black-police-officer

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Where was the last young person killed in London?

We are absolutely incensed by the number of senseless killings of young life in London. This is going to be a major topic at our up and coming YBPA summit on the 19th July 2014 in Old Street. Like our new facebook.com/voyage.ybpa and twitter @voyageybpa99 and of course check out the stats on the Citizen Report.

Welcome to Citizens Report; we developed this site to demonstrate how citizens can create their own community intelligence and instantly alert others about crime and other harmful issues in their neighbourhoods. Since developing CitizensReportUK the software has been ported to Africa, South America and West Indies, and the UK Police have finally developed their own online and mobile crime reporting. This last development means we will be closing down our own public crime reporting portal and we will only maintain our more serous violent crime mapping elements, including:

Mapping and information page on London Teenage murders: Teenage Murders in London
Mapping of British Homicides: British Murders 2011 2012 and 2013

http://www.citizensreportuk.org/index.html

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Open call for Horizons

BPACT VOYAGE is now recruiting Horizons partners to drive in our funded programmes into Young Offending Services, Teams and Young Offender institutions. Our programme is designed to build resilience and leadership to assist those involved in the criminal justice system to resist the temptations to stay involved in crime.

If you would like to know more about the programme please contact the office on 02072508322

 

 

 

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Do you want to become a Y stop trainer

Y.Stop is a new stop and search project created by young people for young people. It is coordinated by Release in collaboration with a large number of charities, lawyers, NGOs and educators. The project aims to give you the skills to handle stop and search and your interactions with the police, as well as provide tools for advice, empowerment and reporting police behaviour. Some more information about the project is here;

Click on link for more.

Y.Stop will be launching next month and will eventually have a whole series of advocacy tools such as an app, film and alternative complaints process especially aimed at young people. We are also launching a training programme and next week are running a train-the-trainers session session to create a new group of peer trainers as part of it. Peer trainers will play a hugely important role in Y.Stop, equipping young people with practical skills, confidence and knowledge to successfully handle stop and search in a fun and practical way.

If you are interested in becoming a Y.Stop trainer, Fully Focused will be delivering a train-the-trainers session for StopWatch and Y.Stop youth partners at 3 – 4.30pm on Tuesday 6 May at;

SkyWays Blue Hut,
49 Provost Street
London
N1 7NZ

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Police stop and search powers to be overhauled (BBC)

Police stop and search powers in England and Wales are to be overhauled with a revised code of conduct, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.

She told MPs an inquiry had found 27% of searches may have been illegal.

She said that if the number of stop and searches did not now come down, she would seek to change the law.

The move follows a consultation, which highlighted concerns that stop and search was used too widely and was unfairly targeting ethnic minorities.

Labour say the plans do not go far enough.

‘Affront to justice’
Recent figures show only about 10% of more than a million searches lead to an arrest, with black people six times more likely to be stopped than those who are white.

read more

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People — Including Cops — See Black Kids as Less Innocent and Less Young Than White Kids

Grateful for any feedback on this article..

http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/03/people-including-cops-view-black-kids-less-innocent-and-less-young-white-kids/359026/

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THE STEPHEN LAWRENCE INDEPENDENT REVIEW PDF – download report

Today’s statement from the home secretary has revealed shocking action by the police. The public inquiry which has been announced will deal with undercover policing, but concern should go much wider, to police race relations generally. The inquiry will lead to public confidence in the police being damaged further. Police failings revealed will be woven into a long history of poor relationships between the police and black people. That history is not about the past, it lives today, seeping away public trust in the police.

stephen_lawrence_review_summary

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Londons Peer Outreach Team

I was truly honoured to present and discuss VOYAGEs programmes and impact with London’s Peer Outreach Team (POT) this afternoon at City Hall.

I was so inspired I just had to stay the whole day listening to the very thoughtful and passionate views of young people shaping their London making it a first class city and them, first class citizens. I am really looking forward to exploring how VOYAGEs YBPA (Alumni) can collaborate with POT to make an even bigger difference to the lives of young Londoners.

Splat splat… You know what I mean.

http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/young-people/engaging-young-people/peer-outreach-team

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The Interrupters – Chicago USA

I recently watched a film called the Interrupters and fell in love with Ameena, Cobe and Tio and the whole team over there in Chicago. This film and its array of inspired characters are so amazing they show you how early and direct intervention on the streets can make a meaningful difference to the lives of young people. The injustices of criminal justice policy and policing often  work covertly to maintain a status quo and we all  need to be aware of this.

Rather than wait for policy, governments or leaders to change and understand the plight of our young, we must develop our own direct solutions just like the Interruptors have done. Why not check them out and leave a comment http://interrupters.kartemquin.com

http://cureviolence.org

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/aug/06/interrupters-chicago-anti-gang-violence 

 

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