Martin Robinson, Daily Mail, December 9, 2015
Serving police officers today backed Donald Trump’s claim that some Muslim communities in the UK are no-go areas because of extremism.
Several Met officers have said the ‘Islamification’ of some parts of the capital requires ‘extra vigilance’ and they can’t wear uniforms for safety reasons–despite Scotland Yard claiming the tycoon ‘couldn’t be more wrong’.
Home Secretary Theresa May tonight rejected Mr Trump’s claims, insisting: ‘The police in London are not afraid to go out and police the streets.’
The US presidential contender caused worldwide consternation yesterday after a string of incendiary remarks about Muslims, including in Britain, and said: ‘We have places in London and other places that are so radicalised that police are afraid for their own lives.’
But one serving officer said today Trump had ‘pointed out something plainly obvious, something which I think we aren’t as a nation willing to own up to’.
Another policeman said that he and other colleagues fear being terror targets and spoke of the ‘dire warning’ from bosses not to wear a uniform ‘even in my own car’.
It came as more than 250,000 people–seven people every second–signed a petition demanding Mr Trump is banned from Britain for being a ‘hate preacher’–an idea rejected by Chancellor George Osborne.
Mr Trump has said the US should close its borders to all Muslim migrants and claims parts of Britain are no-go areas because of Islamic extremism.
MPs responded by calling for the property tycoon to be stopped from entering Britain, where he owns several golf courses. Scotland Yard also hit back last night,
But one serving officer in west London said: ‘Islamification has and is occurring’, adding: ‘You have to have extra vigilance in certain parts when you are working’.
He told right-wing website Breitbart: ‘When I was a teenage lad in Burnley there were no go white areas. This is the case still nationally, including London where you have to have extra vigilance in certain parts when you are working’.
A Lancashire Police officer told MailOnline: ‘There are Muslim areas of Preston that, if we wish to patrol, we have to contact local Muslim community leaders to get their permission’.
One officer from Yorkshire said on the online forum Police.Community: ‘I’m not allowed to travel in half blues to work anymore IN MY OWN CAR as we’re ‘All at risk of attack’–yet as soon as someone points out the obvious it’s ‘divisive.’
He added: ‘In this instance he (Trump) isn’t wrong. Our political leaders are best either ill-informed or simply being disingenuous.
‘He’s pointed out something that is plainly obvious, something which I think we aren’t as a nation willing to own up to–do you think a US Police Department would ban officers from wearing their uniforms under jackets etc due to FEAR of their cops being killed by extremists?
‘We implement half measures such as ‘No-one is allowed to come into work half blues, even in your own cars because if you get beheaded it’ll be your own fault.
‘It would be seen as un-American, un-democratic, not the done thing… In the UK though we accept it’.
One female officer in the Met said if a police officer was attacked it would be written off.
She said: ‘Even if one of us did get killed or dragged off in a van. It would just be reported as a ‘one-off incident’ and no reason to change the ‘British style of policing.’
Another Met officer who resigned this year said: ‘I was a PC in the Met for 11 years–I resigned as I couldn’t handle it anymore
‘Whilst provocative Trump’s comments does carry some weight. PCs are not permitted to even come to work in ‘half Blues’ (just wearing trousers and shirt) for fear of attack whilst going to work. That is a directive from Scotland Yard.
‘PCs have come out to find police cars having the brake lines cut and sometimes their own personal cars damaged’.
Another serving police officer agreed and said: ‘Same here regarding the dire warnings of wearing half blues even in my own car and I’m not in London’.
But another officer responded: ‘I don’t think banning people from wearing half blues/blacks (uniforms) on the way in is about fear, I think it’s about minimising risk wherever possible. If there’s enough evidence to support the current threat level then why make life easy for people who will try and target us?’.
Another serving officer told LBC Radio: ‘There has been a time when it’s been advised not to wear half-blues or uniform to and from work.
‘It’s like damage limitation. You try to do the most you can to prevent anything bad from happening.
‘All intelligence is around you and you do the best with that to essentially stay safe. And if that means taking measures to not identify yourself off-duty too much then so be it.
‘It’s covering your backs. It’s a common sense approach’.
In 2014 Tom Winsor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, caused a row when he claimed minority communities had turned their back on police.
He told The Times: ‘There are some communities born under other skies who will not involve police at all.
‘I am reluctant to name the communities in question but there are communities from other cultures who would prefer to police themselves.
‘There are cities in the Midlands where the police never go because they are never called. They never hear of any trouble because the community deals with that on its own. They just have their own form of community justice’.
