Police propose citizenship school for ethnic minorities

Scotland Yard is considering setting up "citizenship academies" to teach refugees and ethnic minorities living in London about British laws and responsibilities.

The controversial plan was revealed in an interview with The Independent by the Metropolitan Police's Assistant Commissioner, Tarique Ghaffur.

Mr Ghaffur, Britain's most senior officer from an ethnic minority, voiced concern that some minority groups routinely flout laws on issues such as counterfeit goods and drugs. He believes such communities need to receive a clear statement on their legal rights and responsibilities and the consequences of breaking the law.

Mr Ghaffur, 46, said: "There are over 300 nationalities living in London and we take it for granted that they all know the British way of life and their rights – but they don't.

"Just as you would go to evening class to learn DIY, I think we could run citizens' academies where new citizens could come and be given information on various things from policing, legal powers, rights, and responsibilities."

Mr Ghaffur proposes setting up a pilot academy in London, which he would like to expand so that all 33 police boroughs in the capital each had a citizen's school.

The suggestion, to be included in a policy document, follows proposals in May by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, to make successful asylum-seekers learn English, take citizenship lessons and swear an oath of allegiance before they can receive full British citizenship. The move, which is part of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill, increased the tensions within Labour over asylum policy.

However, Mr Ghaffur suggested citizenship academies could be necessary to London life. "If you are from another part of the world, there's an assumption that they will take on the value systems," he said. "You have to give hard messages [that it is unacceptable].

"For example, in Asian countries the type of crime that is increasingly coming forward is drugs and violent related offences, and fraud. In some communities they don't see it is wrong to counterfeit stuff – the Far East, Asia."

Mr Ghaffur, who has been tipped to become the country's first ethnic-minority chief constable, was born in Uganda and sent to college in Britain. When he was 17, he was joined by his parents, who fled their homeland to escape Idi Amin.

He also spoke of his fears of a growing "ghettoisation" of parts of London, particularly between youths living in poor areas next to places that have been "gentrified" with luxury accommodation, bars and restaurants for the rich. "It creates a target-rich environment," he said.

As examples, he said there were "pockets" of lawless white youths in the East End; Bangladeshi youngsters in Tower Hamlets, east London; black youths in Lambeth and Southwark in south London, and Somalis in Brent, north London.

At part of the Met's youth crime strategy, Mr Ghaffur proposes to set up a "one-stop shop" that will house the court, cells, probation service, Crown Prosecution Service and the police in one building so that youth offenders can be dealt with quickly.