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news
Metropolitan Police officer searches Mani Arthur (via Instagram).PNGMetropolitan Police officer does stop and search on Black Cyclists Network founder after ‘smelling’ marijuana
A Metropolitan Police officer was filmed yesterday performing a stop and search on the founder of the Black Cyclists Network (BCN), claiming that he could smell marijuana on him. The cyclist, Mani Arthur, described it as “a degrading and humiliating experience.”
The incident happened at around 2.39pm yesterday afternoon at the junction of Woburn Place and Euston Road, with the officer stopping Mani Arthur, who was riding with two other BCN members, one of whom filmed what happened.
Posting the video to Instagram, Arthur said: “I was detained and searched by a police officer under the suspicion of ‘smelling’ of marijuana. I was harassed and humiliated in a public space.
“To say that I am pissed off is an understatement. Luckily for me, fellow BCN members Aaron and Hugo were present and recorded the incident.”
Recounting the background to the incident, he wrote: “In short, I was waiting in traffic for a green light. Three police officers were crossing the road.
“The one in the video told me to reverse my bicycle back behind the white line where vehicles have to stop. I was not blocking the pedestrian crossing.
“I told the officer that I would be putting myself in danger if I reversed because a small HGV was sitting directly behind me and I would end up in the driver's blind spot if I followed his instructions.
“I explained to the officer that usually there are cycle box lanes ahead of vehicle stop lines to protect cyclists and because there is a lack of one, I was using my common sense to avoid putting myself in danger.
“The officer tried again but I resisted and he turned around to join his colleagues as they were walking away. The lights changed to green.”
That seemed to have brought the episode to a close, but that was not the case.
“I was riding off to join Aaron and Hugo, who by that point were in the middle of the junction when I heard a call from the officer to turn back,” said Arthur.
“I walked over to the officer on the pavement. He asked for my ID and informed me that he smelled cannabis on me during our exchange.
“As a result he needed to search me for possession. He searched me by the side of the road.
“Before the search, I asked him and his colleagues if they smell cannabis on me. They said yes. After the search. They conveniently said they did not smell cannabis on me.”
He added: “I am very annoyed at having to go through such a degrading and humiliating experience.
“It seemed to me like a gross abuse of power by an officer who tried to show off to his colleagues and made up a reason as retribution for his failed attempt.”
Posting the same video to the Regent’s Park Cyclists group on Facebook, he added: “Anyone that knows me knows that I don’t smoke. I barely drink. This just adds insult to injury.”
British Cycling, when it published its Diversity in Cycling report in June this year, said that it had started “as a grassroots project that was sparked by a conversation between experienced road racer Andy Edwards and Black Cyclists Network founder, Mani Arthur.”
The governing body said that the report, which “sets out to explore the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) cyclists taking up cycling as a sport for the first time,” would be shared with “its network of volunteers, clubs and members.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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104 comments
Why the pro-police bias?
Clearly this symbol had to be drawn by an employee of the Metropolitan police. You don't consider that an issue?
There's been a great deal of evidence over the decades that many cops in the met are racist, though my own personal experiences of witnessing it all date from the '80s (haven't had many interactions with them since) and I can believe things have improved recently, probably because the society they recruit from has changed.
But I don't feel they have earned the kind of blind faith you seem to have in them, so I have to put that down to your bias.
Probably going a bit off topic this being a cycling magazine but I would say I don't have blind faith but I do have a sense of reality. In this case one individual probably did that in a building where quite possibly hundreds of different people pass every day. Its unacceptable but to then continue on to The Met is Racist is not true except to the extent that it is a reflection of society which is racist.
The Met has certainly had issues in the past with being institutionally racist and to hand-wave that as being a reflection of society is obviously the wrong way to deal with it. What concerns me is that the Met don't seem to think that it is important - they didn't even report it to the IOPC.
The other aspect that is worrying is what kind of workplace is it when racist employees feel empowered enough to put up a swastika? Certainly, there's nowhere that I've worked where that would even occur to people that it could happen - yet we have it right in the heart of the Met.
It seems to me that the police are such a tight-knit group that they feel honour bound to defend each other even when some of their colleagues are indefensible. Your accusation of "anti-police bias" when I pointed to a factual piece of reporting is a symptom of this kind of problem.
Maybe you should get out of your woke bubble a bit more. I've worked in many places where racism sexism etc are all alive and kicking.
So what's your point? We should accept racism in our key public institutions because it exists in the worst parts of society?
Also, I don't know what "woke bubble" is supposed to mean, but it sounds like the sort of thing a bellend would say.
"There's nowhere that I've worked where that would even occur to people that it could happen"
Thats what you said.
I've worked in plenty of paces where it would occur to people and could happen and the nature of my work is that I have worked in a lot of places.
Raise your standards. I can't imagine it happening anywhere I've worked, and if anyone did try anything like that and was identified they'd be gone in a heartbeat.
it's what's outside a wilfully-ignorant bubble, ie the rest of the world.
I don't think that anyone here is disputing that there are lots of (work)places where "racism sexism etc are all alive and kicking".
If I've misunderstood you then I apologise, but it seems that your response is just to be resigned to it rather than complaining about or actually doing something about it.
And, based on this thread and other comments you've made on other threads, you seem willing to defend the police no matter what.
Stop and search is held up as an example of institutional racism and there are many others. The story that this article was about - remember that? - was about a black cyclist being 'punishment searched' because he didn't kow-tow quickly enough. I'm afraid that I do believe that if he had been white, this incident would not have happened.
I think you have difficulty grasping that lots of people may have had different experiences of the police, and clearly very different from your own (assuming that you have experience with them and aren't just defending them as a matter of principle).
There's no need to worry about the MET, I mean it's not as though the police go around scrawling Nazi symbols....
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/25/swastika-was-scrawled-in-area-of-police-station-accessible-only-to-staff
"The incident was recorded as a faith hate crime" ? Does that mean Nazism is regarded as a 'faith'? Seems a bit odd.
My memory of the '70s is of the Met being riddled with both racism and corruption. I had the impression things have improved a lot in both respects, but I wonder what the truth is with regard to racism? My sense is some parts of the police have changed a lot, but a significant segment is exactly the same as it's always been.
I note this was done in an area open only to police officers and staff (ie not police officers) So you think all the police and staff in Edmonton got together to draw a swastika in a place only they could go.
Isn't your comment an example of the anti police bias I see on here a lot
Why is it anti-police bias?
The graffiti was 'in an area open only to police officers and staff'. So, an area not open to the general public and open only to police officers or police employees, who one would presume to have all been vetted for nasty tendencies.
What?
This is anti-Nazi bias and the fact that you are conflating the two speaks volumes about your priorities. You seem to believe that every single police officer is completely above the law and that the public has no right to criticise them for having racist views.
Not at all. I'm sure there a re a few racist police officers or police staff and when they come to light they are dealt with.
"Dealt with" for some values of "dealt with". Not only did they not find the culprit, but they didn't inform the IOPC.
May I add my name to the list of commenters who were disgusted at reading of this incident. it is a sad reflection of society that a Police officer sworn to uphold the law without favour should behave in such a manner - I bike in the Philippines, the colour of my biking friends range from Black, Brown, White and all colours inbetween, we are largely ignored by the police. The only time a biker gets stopped is because he is riding a motorbike with no helmet and with flipflops, idiots in extreemis! Serious bikers of our kind where shoes and helmets. Others generaly the poor who bike for transport only usualy dont. - I further feel its a sad reflection on uk society that our black brothere have found it neccessary to form a black cyclist club - when we bleed is not our blood red? - The officer looks like a right scruffy git, along with his odious nature.
Retired British Army Medic - Mountain Bike Enthusiast - Anti Theist.
without fear or favour. The difference is important here.
Great stuff guys
Bogbrush
Well this all seems to have escalated quickly.
Good to see the cycling community, like the rest of the country, has a smattering of good old fashioned racisits (and always has had by the way).
I have witnessed many people stopped by police in London while riding their bikes and committing, what many here would perceive as, minor traffic offences. Funnily enough, bearing in mind the demographics of the population, most where "white", yet I've never witnessed any being accused of "smelling of marijuana" and searched in the street.
Strange really as most of them weren't wearing skin tight lycra and could have all sorts of substances secreted around their bodies. Most of them fitted my sterotype of "pot smokers" as we called them back in the day.
This lycra clad chap on the other hand could only have had his gear in one or two places and the officer didn't search there did he?
I'm always astonished at the lengths some people will go to deny the bleeding obvious. This was clearly an officer who decided to teach the gobby black guy a lesson (I say gobby because the officer clearly believes that black people should be seen and not heard).
If you believe this incident wasn't racially motivated you are part of the problem not the solution.
Just clicking like isn't enough for this comment - very well said, sir or madam. It is disheartening to see that racists and those who defend them are obviously part of the cycling community, but the relative numbers of likes and the balance of comments on this thread hopefully shows that the neanderthals are fighting a losing battle.
The one thing that is clear to me is that the gentleman on the bike was being detained for the offense of "Contempt of Cop". This is a serious offense. No Law Enforcement Officer will ever allow anyone to get away with "CoC".
Beyond that, I expect that the officer has had his nose certifed as reliable. What? No? If dogs are used as evidence in an investigation here in the USA they must be a certified investigation dog. They have to correctly smell the substance claimed something like 100 times with no false positives allowed.
So, if the officer can't do that (and unless he is a dog or some other animal which is often used to detect things by smell he can't) then he should face some kind of disciplinary action.
Even an indication by a drugs dog is not in itself/on its own grounds justification in the UK for a stop and search, this is mentioned in the link I put up earlier. There has to be other factors involved that make it 'reasonable suspicion'. Well that's the formal/cop school version, what actually happens is something completely different as we see and many people experience.
I've had the I think you have been drinking because apparently my eyes were glazed/red, which was a blatent lie, it was 1am and I'd just driven 3 hours (to within 400m of home) but I didn't feel tired nor presume look tired, I checked in the mirror a minute or so later, because I always have a proper afternoon sleep before travelling late at night. This all came about because plod were bored and then they started making stuff up about speeding, screeching tyres and the rest. Asking them to produce evidence from their video camera when I pointed out they'd actually not indicated and gone over the mini rbt instead of around it like I had done and that doing in excess of the speed limit in a large estate car without making the tyres squeel would be pretty much impossible and that the car can't do 90 degreee turns as the copper tried to also make out had occured, another matter he would not show on his pig mobile's camera.
Some coppers are okay, too many of them are bent, power crazed tossers, I expect it's similar in the US, except they get guns and from what I've seen are less inclinded to listen to reason before getting (very) heavy handed and then covering their arses with lies/bullshit which the police force then back to the hilt, particularly when it comes to BAME citizens.
When I worked for a local engineering company, three people from the shop floor left to join the police; I didn't trust any of them.
This kind of incident does nothing good for the Law Enforcement community. It just pisses people off.
I have had the same crap here in the US. Once I was stopped by a city cop when I was driving home from a regional "Fire Investigation Team" meeting which had been held in a State Police office building.
I was driving a Volvo 740 Estate (station wagon), and wearing my Fire Captain's uniform. I am an observant Jew so the LEO saw a guy with a beard (trimmed so my SCBA mask could seal) who was wearing a yarmulke, but I don't think that was the cause. He was just a lying ass on a fishing expedition.
Some LEOs I have worked with on scene have been wonderful. But unfortunately I have a bit of a list of incidents where an LEO interfered with the Fire Service in some way. Some LEO's are not able to accept input beyond "Yes sir, sorry sir, please forgive me sir..." even when it comes from someone like a Fire Service officer.
This incident needs to be looked at closely both by the Police and by a non-LEO agency. From the description and video it may have been a racial incident, or it may have been a cop who does not play nicely with the general public. Either of those needs to be dealt with.
The Met police ban on XR was declared unlawful.
That's not just some uptight street bobby, that's the Commisioner getting it wrong.
Three pages of posts; is institutional racism in the police the new helmet thread?
I'm amazed 'Godwins law' hasn't been invoked on this yet...
It looks like a dodgy case of stop and search to me...the police aren't perfect...I was once nicked for swearing (not at a copper - just in the general vicinity) and then they tried charging me with drunk and disorderly (stone cold sober) - apparently the copper had a reputation for dodgy arrests and it was laughted out of court. Most coppers are great and do a crackin' job though - in the face of a hell of a lot of crap. The cyclist did nothing unlawful or against the highway code.
Absolute bollocks. Why stop anybody for smelling of weed- there are so many much more severe crimes going on right now that the police say they don't have time for e.g. burglaries, car crime, etc, so why do they have time for stop and search for someone smelling of weed?
As for the "going over the line", to stop someone and comment on that is really dramatic. You see so many cars, and bikes stopping either a few inches or feet over the line, and at the end of the day is it that serious or causing anybody any harm or danger? Most peopl would agree the answer is "No".
Next time Cressida Dick says they need more police I cannot really take it seriously and this kind of behaviour does not do her cause any justice.
Is there something that has been cropped since the piece was first posted. Seems as if most people are spouting about something that isn't visible. Opinion maybe.
The rider made an error and was chastised for it. End. Quite possibly his attitude aggravated things. If he was in the wrong place he should do as asked by the police. Its the whole point of them. You don't argue. To say that you do makes amockery of the system. I assume that all those who say that we can argue are suggesting that we can all decide what rules we like. I guess that they are Ok with me carrying a knife all the time. I do. Its bloody useful. Used almost every day. However should I be asked to refrain in certain circumstances I do so as the law requires.
Two seperate incidents here with some one who has a chip on his shoulder making an ecuse for poor manners.
The reason for the chip is totally irrelevant to a cycling forum.
Have to say, I guess, that so is a good chunck of the what passes for news on the cycling equivelant of The Sun.
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