Cllr John Duffy (Labour, Kilburn) has written the following letter to Carolyn Downs, Brent Council Chief Executive,after a resident complained about the above poster displayed on Kilburn High Road:
Please find attached sign that has been place on Kilburn High Road.A resident approached me claiming, in her view, that the sign was racist.Whereas I would not go that far, until I hear the full motive behind the cabinet agreeing the signs, I would say I agree with her general concerns.I believe the signs are inappropriate and could be seen as an attempt to stereotype persons of colour as the culprits of crime and it is also conceivable that used a mug shot of a young black man against a background commonly used by LAPD ( who are widely believe to be the most racist American police-force) as offensive to many people.I am asking you to remove these signs forthwith from Kilburn - other councillors can make their own minds up. I do not wish to see rows of these along Kilburn High Road as I believe they give the wrong impression to the public about how to care for the environment and who is responsible for environmental crime.I am concerned this is another display of the Cabinet devotion to the failed Zero Tolerance policy, which is in fact is a reactionary policy. This policy has stigmatised many innocent residents, because of the bounty hunting approach of issuing tickets and now this dubious awareness campaign.Bearing in mind you as the CEO accept that the Kingdom Securities contract had no negotiations, equalities training or monitoring concerning the issuing of the 6000 Fixed Penalty Notices. I again ask you to independently audit the FPNs to ensure they were issued fairly and were not issued using the person’s colour or mental health conditions as the main factor.Ms Downs, I am sure you read the Prime Minster’s race audit, which pointed out "Black people are more than six times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than White people". I cannot help thinking this type of subliminal stereotyping being produced by Brent is not helpful to those who wish to see this figures reduced.I hope you will confirm ASAP:(1) Removal of these signs from Kilburn forthwith.(2) How many of these signs went up and where they went -up.(3) How much the signs cost.(2) Could you furnish me with the reason behind these signs, as they make no sense to me as they do even mention the fine.(3) Confirm you will haves an independent audit of the 6000 FPNs issued