by Charles Hymas, Telegraph
Policy Exchange report says association has published papers defending Hamas and labelling Zionism ‘anti-Muslim hatred’
A Muslim police association has been accused of undermining the service’s impartiality by espousing pro-Palestine views.
The National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP) published papers defending Hamas, described terms such as “Islamist” as Islamophobic and platformed Muslim leaders with questionable views, according to the Right-of-centre think tank Policy Exchange.
The think tank said the convention that police operate “without fear or favour” is being threatened by staff organisations such as the NAMP by straying into contested political areas.
Commenting on the report, Baroness Falkner, the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “Too often, as this paper shows, we see staff networks straying into contested ideological, religious or political territory.
“If the public no longer believe they can trust that the police will always operate according to that most fundamental of principles – to act without fear or favour – we would see risks to the rule of law itself.”
Peter Clarke, a former head of the UK’s Counter-Terrorism Command, said the “timely” report raised “key issues” over staff networks’ “influence on operational policing decisions”.
He said Shabana Mahmood’s proposed policing reforms offered a chance to crackdown on staff associations with “consistent, enforceable frameworks”.