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Top cop rapped for Eid remark
17/12/2004
A SENIOR police officer has been rapped for breaching the police
code of conduct by making remarks about Eid revellers that were
perceived as racist by other officers.
An inquiry found that though some officers found Superintendent
David Keller's remarks racist, the words complained of were not in
fact racist but that they were inappropriate.
Greater Manchester Police are refusing to reveal exactly what
Superintendent Keller said but say that speculation he reffered to
machine guns in connection with outsiders gatecrashing Manchester
Eid celebrations were inacurate.
Superintendent Keller made the remarks at a top level meeting of
GMP's metropolitan division called to discuss this year's Eid
policing operation.
He is second in command of the division which contains most of the
city's Muslim population.
Three officers - a detective inspector and two sergeants -
considered his remarks racist and reported him to the GMP
complaints and discipline department.
As a result the Independent Police Complaints Commission was asked
to supervise a probe into Superintendent's comments.
This found he had breached the code of conduct.
Several fence-mending meetings were held between senior officers,
including Superintendent Keller, and Muslim community leaders who
said afterwards they were satisfied that the 'machine gun'
allegations were unfounded.
Mental Health co-ordinator at the Pakistani Resources Centre Yasmin
Dar said she did not think Superintendent Keller meant to
offend.
She said "This has been misconstrued. It was a very volatile
situation and we are pleased it has been cleared up. He did use a
certain phrase when discussing the arrests over Eid in Manchester
when 38 of the 43 arrested were from outside the area. It was to
these people his remarks were addressed. OK it was Eid and they
were Muslims but the words were taken out of context."
She added: "It is very reassuring that his words were reported by
other officers who were not Asian or black. It shows that the
atmosphere inside Greater Manchester Police is changing for the
better."
One spin-off from the affair was the carpeting of an Asian WPC for
sending out an e-mail concerning Superintendent Keller's
remarks.
Sources say she heard about the Keller incident and suggested, by
e-mail, that there had been a bid to keep it quiet.
She was told to be 'on parade' at GMP headquarters where a senior
officer gave her a 'dressing down' and suggested she should send
out another e-mail apologising for the first.
Superintendent Keller said he was unable to discuss the issue but a
personal apology was sent around stations on the division.
Part of it read: "I made a comment which has caused offence to some
of the people at the meeting. Whilst this statement was not
intended to cause upset, I do acknowledge that some members of
staff feel it was inappropriate. I offer my full apologies to those
who are aware of this comment, for any offence it may have
caused."
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