Ethnic minority communities being left by police to 'take law into their own hands'

The Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Tom Winsor, said some ethnic minority communities are turning their backs on the police and rarely, if ever, call them to deal with/investigate crimes, even those as serious as murder, sex crimes and pedophilia, instead dealing with them 'in their own way' (Guardian, 2014)

"There are cities in the Midlands where the police never go because they are never called. They never hear of any trouble because the community deals with that on its own ... They just have their own form of community justice" (Tom Winsor, 2014)

This is what people mean by 'state multiculturalism has failed' (Cameron, 2011). It's time (ivory tower) liberals woke up to what is going on in our towns and cities. The West is turning into The Wild West, even Mr. Winsor went as far as to compare the situation in some parts of the UK to Northern Ireland during 'the Troubles'

There is a significant difference between the police leaving a community to sort itself out and a community refusing to get the police involved.

On the other hand it does suggest that the police are tolerating vigilantism. Who exactly in "the community" "deals with that"? Were they elected? Do they assemble juries? Do they require proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt?

This sort of thing can range from benign (immigrants don't call the police because they don't commit or become victims of crimes!) to the deeply sinister (immigrants have established underground states that are excluding the British state from increasingly large areas of the country).

If natives did the latter there would be tanks in the streets.

But Chris Sims, chief constable of West Midlands police, told the paper there was "no evidence" of crimes being under-reported in the region's minority communities.

Sims added: "The experience of West Midlands police's officers and staff who actively work day in day out with our communities could not be more different than suggested by Mr Winsor, assuming he's referring to West Midlands.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the under reporting of crimes is a significant issue here in the West Midlands and that some communities therefore feel compelled to take the law into their own hands."

He added that areas with a high density of minority communities accounted for high volumes of calls to his force.

home affairs select committee chairman and Leicester MP Keith Vaz said he was concerned by Winsor's claims. He said: "I have represented an inner city Midlands constituency, which is home to many diverse communities, for 26 years and have not seen any evidence to support the idea of a sub culture of secondary justice.

"It is hazardous to suggest that some communities have lost faith with the justice system of this country without providing specific evidence.

Yes the issue is how to deal with community-wide vigilantism (which is an incredibly delicate situation and has no simple answer), not that the police are just leaving the community. The community has left the police.

It's also worth mentioning that no evidence has been given yet, as shown in the second half of the article which the OP conveniently left out:

This would explain why the police find it difficult to prosecute ordinary crimes in these areas but not why they are not cracking down on the vigilantes who have taken their place.

At the moment we have two competing claims, one by the Chief Inspector of Police, and another by a Chief Constable who probably stands to lose his job if these claims are substantiated. I suggest that Chief Constable Sim's assertion that the claim cannot be substantiated (note, he did not say it was false) does not settle the matter.

The community-wide vigilantism is a trend that has been recognised, which will now lead to discussions and solutions.

It's very unlikely that the police were consciously acknowledging that communities were not communicating with them and just thought "bah, leave 'em to it!".

Of course, but there is still no evidence.

Why now? It's not a true trend. And clearly it has not been recognised, since the Chief Constable for the West Midlands denies that this trend exists.

It's more likely they knew exactly what was going on and chose to permit it so as to avoid being painted as racists, as we already saw with the recent pedophile ring cases.

That may or may not be true. The BBC did not present any evidence, but the BBC is not the one making the claim.

It has to be observed at some point. Problems don't just magically get solved without recognising them and formulating a plan. And that's exactly my point - it's early stages, there is disagreement throughout the force as this is a phenomenon that is just being recognised.

I see no reason to believe why that's more likely but, regardless, reports are priorities and this is a difficult situation to manage, especially under budgetary pressure. Trying to twist this into an attack on the police is clearly wrong when Tom Winsor is openly stating his concerns in an attempt to resolve the problem. It's not as if this has been leaked - it is a direct statement from the chief inspector who clearly feels that the police are limited in what they can do.

Yes it is true:

"I hope that Mr Winsor will back up his statements in his report. The home affairs select committee will also ask Bob Jones, the police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands, about this matter when he gives evidence to us on Tuesday."

You claim on the one hand that there is no evidence for this trend. You claim on the other to know that 1. it exists 2. when it started (apparently very recently). Please provide me with the evidence on which you base those claims, particularly the second.

Winsor did not state that the police could not tackle this problem he said that they didi not. Winsor is already hated by the police for repeatedly stating awkward facts that the senior management of the police would rather keep private. I suspect that Chief Constable Sims is checking his pension provision as we type.

None of which implies that there is no evidence for his claim. I would think the fact he is about to release a report suggests that he will have evidence for the claim in the report. It's of course possible that Winsor has gone round the bend and made this up on the spot, and we shall see, but I assign that a relatively low probability.

Haha, in your dreams girlfriend..

The Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Tom Winsor, said some ethnic minority communities are turning their backs on the police and rarely, if ever, call them to deal with/investigate crimes, even those as serious as murder, sex crimes and pedophilia, instead dealing with them 'in their own way' (Guardian, 2014)

"There are cities in the Midlands where the police never go because they are never called. They never hear of any trouble because the community deals with that on its own ... They just have their own form of community justice" (Tom Winsor, 2014)

This is what people mean by 'state multiculturalism has failed' (Cameron, 2011). It's time (ivory tower) liberals woke up to what is going on in our towns and cities. The West is turning into The Wild West, even Mr. Winsor went as far as to compare the situation in some parts of the UK to Northern Ireland during 'the Troubles'

Based on what?

Do you seriously think the police would keep stats on neighbourhoods they elect to allow to 'police themselves'?

Your logic, and extension, baffles me What is the basis for this comment?

I've been busy

From whom?

Thank you for your riveting and telling contribution. You, sir, are the picture of maturity and refinement