{"id":116992,"date":"2025-05-20T11:58:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T11:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/116992\/"},"modified":"2025-05-20T11:58:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T11:58:13","slug":"head-of-group-representing-black-officers-takes-legal-action-accusing-psni-of-racial-discrimination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/116992\/","title":{"rendered":"Head of group representing Black officers takes legal action accusing PSNI of racial discrimination"},"content":{"rendered":"

KRW Law is acting on behalf of Andy George<\/a> \u2013 a senior serving PSNI<\/a> chief inspector and head of the National Black Police Association (NBPA) \u2013 who was placed under investigation over a post on social media platform X.<\/p>\n

“We have filed an application on his behalf to the Office of the Industrial Tribunal and Fair Employment Tribunal, alleging racial discrimination against the PSNI,” the legal firm said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Details of the incident emerged in March when Mr George claimed the decision to place him under a misconduct investigation \u201csends a chilling message\u201d and \u201cstifles free speech\u201d.<\/p>\n

The post in question followed the case of firearms officer Martyn Blake, who was cleared of murder by a jury after shooting dead an unarmed man, Chris Kaba.<\/p>\n

Following the acquittal, the Metropolitan Police promoted Mr Blake from sergeant to inspector despite the police watchdog believing he should face a hearing for alleged gross misconduct.<\/p>\n

Mr George compared Mr Blake\u2019s treatment with that of Black and Asian officers who he said are more likely to face disciplinary action than their white colleagues.<\/p>\n

In November, he reposted a Daily Mail article about the promotion of Mr Blake whose career had stalled until his acquittal.<\/p>\n

Mr George added: \u201cRegardless of your feelings on the case, this will come as a slap in the face to the disproportionate number of Black officers under investigation for misconduct and being held back in their own careers! No doubt an impact on Black Londoners as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking today on the significance of the case, Mr George\u2019s legal representative said the \u201cdraconian move\u201d of the PSNI \u201csets the wrong tone for the promotion and protection of the interests and rights of the 6,000 strong NBPA membership\u201d.<\/p>\n

Senior KRW Law associate solicitor Barry O\u2019Donnell said: \u201cAndy George has been penalised for displaying tremendous leadership in protecting the rights and interests of minorities within wider policing in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PSNI misconduct action taken against him was unnecessarily punitive.<\/p>\n

“We allege it breaches his rights to freedom of expression under Article 10 of the human rights [convention] among other violations.<\/p>\n

“This draconian move sets the wrong tone for the promotion and protection of the interests and rights of the 6000 strong NBPA membership.<\/p>\n

“We are very pleased to confirm the support of the Good Law Project who are partnered with ourselves in fighting this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

Andy George, president of the Black Police Association in the UK.<\/p>\n

News Catch Up – Monday 19 May <\/p>\n

Mr George joined the RUC in 1999 and spent his first eight years in a response team before moving to the Armed Response Unit for 10 years.<\/p>\n

He attended his first NBPA meeting in July 2016 and was elected onto the cabinet as sponsorship co-coordinator in October 2017 before becoming male vice president in October 2019 and president in October 2020.<\/p>\n

The PSNI has been contacted for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KRW Law is acting on behalf of Andy George \u2013 a senior serving PSNI chief inspector and head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[22305,1144,1610,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-116992","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-garrett-hargan","9":"tag-northern-ireland","10":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114540046316465723","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}