Kids Caught On Camera

Cops provoked a furious outcry after they admitted building a photo database of innocent children.

Community leaders in the London Borough of Lambeth were furious after learning that officers were taking pictures of their children without permission

Police initially defended their actions saying it was "a tactic to combat robbery, street violence and gang crime", but days later they performed a u-turn by ditching the cameras

Cheryl Sealey, a member of the Lambeth Community Police Consultative Group (LCPCG) welcomed the move. She told New Nation "Photographing our young people is criminalising them. They were taking us back to the days of the Stop and Search (SUS) laws. I'm glad the police have now seen sense."

Scotland Yard documents seen by New Nation show concern about "overt policing" has been an issue since 2004. Fifty-two per cent of all people whose images were captured in London are black, with two thirds aged between 14 and 22.

Police Chiefs claim that many photos are destroyed, but some campaigners fear they may be compiling a massive database of mugshots. Parallels have been drawn with the ever-expanding DNA database, which contains the genetic details of three out of every four young black men.

Lambeth resident Lloyd Leon said "I have been working for 25 years trying to build community relations after what happened in the riots in the 1980's. This policy [photographing the public] has never been discussed in public and there will be riots again if it continues"

The information above is taken from an article published in the New Nation on 19 May 2008, written by Lester Holloway

Do you think Croydon's African-Caribbean Community is about to experience "the return of SUS"?