Met officers investigated after black boy, 16, stopped six times in five months

By Vikram Dodd, The Guardian

Police watchdog investigating eight officers after complaints of racial profiling over stops in Tottenham and Stratford

Eight Metropolitan police officers are under investigation after a black 16-year-old was stopped six times in five months, on each occasion with nothing criminal found.

The police watchdog is investigating after the case triggered claims of racial profiling and a friend of the boy’s family said he had been left traumatised.

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The complaint covers stops of the child between January and May 2023, five of them in Tottenham, north London, and one close to the Olympic Park in Stratford, east London.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said seven officers were being investigated for potential gross misconduct – meaning that if found guilty they could be sacked – and one for alleged misconduct.

It said five of the stops had potential issues, and the complaint from the boy’s mother alleged insufficient grounds for the stops, racial bias, that force was unreasonably used, that officers failed to consider the boy’s welfare and that proper rules may not have been followed.

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The Met also recently stopped and searched two Black brothers without cause.

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