Allegations of two-tier policing have been in the news lately in relation to the horrific protests on the streets. Elon Musk had a very public spat with Keir Starmer on the subject, using the hashtag #TwoTierKeir which prompted a lot of headlines. There is a perception that the police can treat Muslim protestors differently to white protestors. Scenes of police running away from an Asian-led protest in Leeds contrasted with riot police responding in Southport. Indeed, protestors in London mocked the police there, chanting, “Where the f*** were you in Leeds?” 

To be clear, there is no place for violence, vandalism, threats or intimidation in our society. Every person who engages in these behaviours deserves to feel the full force of the law. Violence is never the right response and is counter-productive to any cause. We live in a democracy, which means that we can seek to influence politicians by democratic means. Living in a democracy, however, does mean that we need to be able to discuss the issues, and police policy is one of those issues.

We first raised it eight years ago

Eight years ago, in response to the Casey Review into integration, I proposed ten policies that would make a difference. One of these proposals was to: “hold police forces accountable for treating all people equally under the law regardless of their background, culture, religion, or ethnicity.” Today, people would summarise that as “end two-tier policing”. It was evident back then that police had been shy of arresting grooming gang perpetrators if they were of Pakistani ethnicity for fear of being branded “racist” or “Islamophobic”. In one more recent report into grooming gangs, a detective constable clearly said that “we were told to try to get other ethnicities.” That is evidence of a policy of two-tier policing. 

Enforcing sharia in Speakers’ Corner

Two years ago I wrote about how Christian evangelist Hatun Tash was arrested by police in Speakers’ Corner after having her Qur’an stolen from her. You can watch footage of the incident here. Hatun had broken no laws and done nothing wrong. In fact, she was the victim. No one was arrested for stealing her Qur’an. The crowd of Muslims mocked her as she was brutally frog-marched off into a police van amidst chants of “Allahu Akbar”. 

Only after being strip-searched, having her glasses removed from her so that she could not read, being questioned at 4:00am, arrested again, and detained for a total of 15 hours was she finally released without charge.

Hatun’s stolen Qur’an was later found by the police. She deliberately uses a large copy of the Qur’an with holes drilled through it to remind Muslims that a famous Islamic apologist admitted that “the standard narrative [of the origins of the Qur’an] has holes in it.” This is undoubtedly provocative, but it is nowhere near being a crime. Astonishingly, video footage shows the police later finding her copy of the Qur’an and handing it to Muslim onlookers! One Muslim shortly afterwards brazenly put out video footage of himself holding the stolen Qur’an! Isn’t there an offence of handling stolen goods? Did the police take any action? Did they heck.

This was not the first time that Hatun has been wrongfully arrested. Metropolitan Police  paid out £10,000 for wrongful arrests in 2020 and 2021. They also issued a statement of apology. Sadly, they don’t seem to have learned their lesson.

If you offend Muslims you will be arrested … There are no arrests, however, for offending Christians.

Police policy appears to be to effectively to enforce elements of sharia law. If you offend Muslims you will be arrested. Hatun has proven this several times. There are no arrests, however, for offending Christians. Not that there should be any arrests for causing offence at all. Being offensive is, after all, not an offence. If it were, we would not have free speech at all. Not that the police seem to understand this or be at all interested in protecting free speech, particularly when it comes to Islam.

What really grates, is that there are also no arrests for assaulting or stealing from Christians — even when done in broad daylight with multiple witnesses and video footage. Even when repeated requests are made for action to be taken. What other conclusion are we supposed to draw than that two-tier policing is a reality?

A reality

Since 7 October we have seen police stand by while protestors call for Jihad or chant antisemitic slogans. The police response to Islam-related protests or riots is clearly muted in comparison to the reaction to white protests. Video-footage of an unarmed 72-year-old white woman with a pacemaker being arrested by five riot police in London went viral on the internet. 

Videos of pro-Palestine groups of masked and sometimes armed men congregating and threatening or attacking people with no police presence to be seen, contrast with riot police out in force for unarmed white groups. 

Video footage emerged on Saturday showing a police liaison officer in Stoke-on-Trent telling Muslim protestors that they could leave their weapons at the mosque. He said:

We will work with you guys for the best solution. The EDL lot I’ve been assured have left.

If there are any weapons or anything like that, then what I would do is discard them at the mosque.

Don’t give anybody any reason to have any interaction with the police, so if there’s any weapons, get rid of them, we are not going to arrest anybody. You don’t want us to make arrests or start dispersing people. Is that alright?

Police have now admitted that public confidence was undermined by this incident and are said to be reviewing the incident. It is a criminal offence to carry a knife or a weapon. Allowing Muslims to leave their weapons at the mosque rather than arresting them for this crime is another example of two-tier policing.

Two-tier policing then is not just a perception, it is a reality

Two-tier policing then is not just a perception, it is a reality. There are plenty of examples. However, politicians do not want to admit it, and neither do the police. Instead of recognising these concerns, Sir Keir Starmer has flatly denied the problem, stating that: “There is no two-tier policing”, and that this is “a non-issue.” Such a blanket denial of valid concerns going back years does not help to ease tensions. 

Inciting violence?

Even more concerningly, Met Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, appears to want to criminalise people who claim that there is two-tier policing. In an interview with Sky News he suggested that people who say that there is two-tier policing are legitimising violence. He added: “If you’re a keyboard warrior, you’re not safe from the law if you incite violence.” 

I very much hope that Sir Mark is clear that there is a big difference between recognising legitimate concerns and legitimising violence. Lots of politicians were quick to acknowledge concerns when we had the BLM protests in London, in spite of 27 police officers being injured by protestors. Were those politicians legitimising violence?

The solution is clear to everyone. Police are meant to operate without fear or favour. Everyone should be treated equally by the law. The government should mandate equal treatment regardless of ethnicity or religion. Police chiefs should be absolutely intolerant of unequal treatment and work hard to eradicate it. 

The fact that two-tier policing has hit the headlines shows that there are widespread concerns about it. My hope is that police and politicians become brave enough to acknowledge that there is a problem. As things stand, however, there is no political appetite to even admit there is a problem, let alone to fix it. Consequently, two-tier policing will continue. With two-tier policing we no longer live in a free and equal society. 

One law for all

The principle of one law for all, is a Biblical one. Exodus 12:49 states:

The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.

Kings, as well as ordinary people, were expected to abide by the same law (Deuteronomy 17:19).

Western civilisation is built on the Biblical principle of one law for all. Everyone recognises that this is the fairest system. This is how laws should be enforced. 

Do pray for the police at this time. They are under a lot of pressure and many have been injured in the awful violence that we have seen. We should all be grateful for their brave work. They don’t get a lot of thanks and appreciation. Most of them are acting under orders. We need police with high morale and integrity and we want our laws to be upheld robustly. I pray that they will soon regain respect for operating without fear or favour again.