11/04/2017 Look East (West)


11/04/2017

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Delays investigating police racism - a former Bedfordshire officer

:00:00.:00:00.

calls for action on his three-year-old case.

:00:00.:00:11.

Clearing landmines from warzones - the Cambridgeshire company helping

:00:12.:00:13.

And changeable weather on the way. I will have all the details.

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First tonight, criticism over delays in investigating racial

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discrimination in one of our police forces.

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In 2014 Harmit Bahra was awarded more than ?200 ,000 after taking

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The court agreed he'd been discriminated against

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But, three years on, and the Independent Police

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Complaints Commission is still investigating 15 police

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Harmit Bahra passed his inspector's exam on the first attempt,

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He says that discrimination he faced cheated him out of his ambitions.

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I would've been the first Indian police officer who made it

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No-one can understand the damage it has done.

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It damaged me as a person, it damaged me as a police officer

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and the reputation of me as a police officer.

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An employment tribunal in 2014 found that Sergeant Bahra

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had been discriminated against by Bedfordshire Police

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11 police officers of chief inspector rank

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and above, and four police staff, are currently under

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investigation by the IPCC for suspected gross misconduct.

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So now they have retired, if they say sorry, we're not

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going to get involved, we're not interested,

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Even when the IPCC finish their investigation, they refer it

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back to Bedfordshire Police as the appropriate authority, so

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no matter what the IPCC say, it will go back to Jon Boutcher,

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if he says I am not interested, he still doesn't have

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Speaking on Look East last week, the Chief Constable Jon Boutcher

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wouldn't be drawn on whether an investigation into the 11 senior

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officers was indicative of a wider problem.

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That smacks of institutional racism, doesn't it?

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The investigation needs to take its course.

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It might find that there's not been any inappropriate behaviours.

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The IPCC told us that the reason their investigation is taking

:02:37.:02:38.

so long is that it has been complex and resource intensive.

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It has now reached a significant stage and they are working

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What do you think of Bedfordshire Police's current

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recruitment drive to bring in more ethnic minority

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They were having recruiting drives then.

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The reason they do not achieve anything in 30 years

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That is why ethnic minorities cannot progress,

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Bedfordshire Police told us that they are frustrated by the length

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of the investigation into Harmit Bahra's case.

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Well, Inspector Mike Chand from Bedfordshire Police campaigns

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to get more black and ethnic minority officers in the force.

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I asked him if more needs to be done to promote

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officers like Harmit Bahra to the senior ranks.

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Historically and nationally, the police, I feel, haven't done

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enough to first of all keep BME candidates, officers

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The Government introduced positive action but I think as yet,

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no force has taken positivity up so I think it's an area that

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We're talking today about a case where the man won his tribunal

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three years ago and he claimed that there was an institutional

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racism acting against him that meant he couldn't get promotion.

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Do you think that perception is a bad thing for people thinking

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Well, first of all, I can't comment on a live case so I won't.

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However, talking about the police force in general, the perception BME

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people have of the police force is actually they could be

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racist and historically, there has been proven to be racism

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and that generally is what people perceive it to be.

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However, times have changed, people are now joining the system,

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learning about the system and I think going ahead,

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if it doesn't change, there'll be some serious issues

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What more would you like to see done in terms of recruitment,

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retention and progression of BME officers?

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Well, I'd like all police forces to take up the option of positive

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At the end of the day, the law's been made,

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rules have been engaged by the government in order

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to solve these issues and if we do not make use of them,

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then what's the point of having them there?

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The demographics of society have changed.

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If the police forces don't change with them,

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then I can say they won't be doing the service that the public require.

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It's not just about the numbers and statistics, is it?

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Why is it important that the police force reflect

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Well, ultimately the public are the police and the

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If we're not reflecting our communities then how can

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I mean, ultimately that's the goal of any police force, to serve

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communities and if communities are not being served

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because actually there's no-one that looks like them,

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talks like them, understands their culture, then how can

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you possibly reflect them and how can you serve them?

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People need to understand that you need BME minorities

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within the executive ranks so they can make those

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informed decisions on cultures and communities.

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Without that, you are simply going to get a biased view of the world

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A taxi driver has been cleared of causing the death of Northampton

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The 38-year-old suffered fatal head injuries after his motorbike

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was involved in a crash with a car in London in August 2015.

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The cab driver, Abdul Qayyum, from Slough in Berkshire,

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was today found not guilty of causing death

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Police are appealing for witnesses after thieves used a JCB digger

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to steal a cash machine from a Cambridgeshire

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Four men wearing balaclavas used the digger to destroy

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the wall of the Co-Op store in Longstanton High Street

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They removed the cash machine from the building and then left

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A Cambridgeshire engineering company is helping Prince Harry's charity

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The Halo Trust in the global fight against landmines.

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Armtrak, who are based in Burwell, build specialist mine

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They're used all over the world to remove hidden explosive

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There are thought to be more than a million mines scattered

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Some left over from distant wars, many the result

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The cost to human life is catastrophic.

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Across the globe, mines kill over 800 people every month.

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An international mine banning treaty was introduced 20 years ago,

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effectively stopping the use of all antipersonnel mines.

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Now, although some states still do use and produce them,

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the number's fallen dramatically thanks mainly to this treaty.

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But perhaps more importantly, tens of millions of mines have

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been cleared, thanks, in part, to these machines

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It's got titanium spikes which then rips up the ground.

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Any mine which is underneath it, it will either explode it

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As well as these armoured tractors, Armtrak specialise

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There's too many landmines, it's going to take many

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As quick as we clear them, other countries are still laying

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We're making a change, slowly, but not fast enough and every

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Every one of these machines out there hopefully

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Armtrac are currently preparing one of these machines

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for Prince Harry's charity, The Halo Trust.

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Last week, the prince pledged to continue his mother's legacy

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My mother had been shocked and appalled by the impact that

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landmines were having on incredibly vulnerable people,

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She didn't understand why more people were not willing to address

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She refused to accept that these destructive weapons should be left

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where they were just because they were perceived as too

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They cost tens of thousands to build but with the weak pound,

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However, the real value is in lives saved.

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Jozef Hall, BBC Look East, Cambridgeshire.

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The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have been in Bedfordshire today

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to open the new Elephant Care Centre at Whipsnade Zoo.

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As well as meeting the keepers, the royal couple met Donna

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The ?2 million facility will house nine Asian elephants

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Prince Philip opened the original elephant

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The ZSL charity which runs the zoo, and of which the Queen is a patron,

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is involved in more than 50 conservation programmes around

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the world, to ensure elephants and humans can coexist peacefully.

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The centre will open to the public on Wednesday.

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I'll leave you with the weather from Alex.

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Clear skies across some of the region at the moment, but increasing

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amounts of cloud coming in from the north-west as we go through the

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night, so a milder night night compared with last night, and the

:10:12.:10:16.

possibility of the odd spot of rain by the end of the night. These are

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the sorts of temperatures we can end the night on, so a milder start to

:10:21.:10:24.

the day tomorrow. A weather system is coming from the north-west

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bringing cold air behind it and a little bit of rain, but not a huge

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amount. We start the day with cloudy conditions, the middle of the day

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will be brighter and in that brightness we could get highs of 14

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degrees, but sometimes limited compared with today. As the day goes

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on, this patchy rain moves in from the north-west, but for some parts

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of the region it will stay dry. There are conditions follow and a

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cold night follows as well. Here is the outlook.

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On Sunday, on the cool side for East itself.

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Good evening. Grace of all it -- it is greatest of all in Scotland. A

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weather front is on the move. The rain edging down into south-western

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parts of Scotland and northern Ireland. Much of England and Wales

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will have a dry note but not quite as Chile to start tomorrow. Let's

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deal with the wet weather first thing tomorrow. It will be a damp

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start for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Heaviest rain on the hills

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towards the coast and east of the Pennines, not too much rain at

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