Case of George Floyd makes it into PSNI report about policing in rural south Armagh

This week’s contentious report into policing in rural south Armagh makes a handful of references to the lessons which can be learned from the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota last May.
By Adam Kula
Published 2nd Sep 2021, 10:50 BST
Updated 2nd Sep 2021, 11:43 BST
SF regional leader Michelle O'Neill and others at a mural honouring George Floyd in west BelfastSF regional leader Michelle O'Neill and others at a mural honouring George Floyd in west Belfast
SF regional leader Michelle O'Neill and others at a mural honouring George Floyd in west Belfast

Full details on that south Armagh report here at this link

Among the reading materials which informed the report is a document titled: “Out of the darkness: policing and the death of George Floyd”.

It was written by Rick Muir of The Police Foundation, an English body which describes itself as an “independent think tank focused exclusively on improving policing”.

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The south Armagh report quotes from the George Floyd one, saying: “If strangers police strangers then mistrust quickly fills the vacuum.

“So policing needs not just to respond to emergencies and investigate crimes, but also to actively engage communities, getting to know people and helping to solve their problems.

“If the only time you see police in your neighbourhood is when they turn up in numbers to make an arrest, then all you see is a police force not a police service. It is a crucial distinction …

“[If] a police service looks more like the community it serves, it is likelier to be able to sustain public support.”

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Elsewhere, the foundation had said of Floyd’s death that “the stain of the racial injustice at the center of this trial shall never be removed ... [police must] learn from it and atone for it as a profession”.

Read more from this reporter:

Click here: NI Justice Minister Naomi Long silent over Black Lives Matter call to defund police and founders’ praise for wanted terror figure

Click here: Black Lives Matter: Queen’s University criticised by MP for sending students for ‘unconscious bias training’

Click here: PSNI heavily criticised for actions at Black Lives Matter protests

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