Story highlights
DMO Deejay was riding around London in a rented Bentley
"It's not harassment," the officer says
A black British DJ is angry after being stopped by London police and told “it’s a fact” black men dressed in “gangster-style clothing” commit crimes.
The DJ and a friend are seen in a video – which was recorded from inside the car and edited – riding around. DMO Deejay is behind the wheel when a police car begins to follow him and his friend before pulling the Bentley over. An on-screen graphic asks “Am I doing anything wrong here?”
The men are then seen talking with an officer on the sidewalk, as another on-screen graphic appears: “Once again stopped by the police as they thought I stole this Bentley.”
The officer is heard on the video telling the men, “This isn’t racist, it’s a fact. Predominantly, the criminal profile of people who do it [commit crime] are black people. So, naturally, if you see a car full of black lads, maybe dressed in gangster-style clothing or whatever, when they’re driving down here, they’re getting stopped.”
Police aware of the video
In a voiceover in the video, the DJ asks, “Are you hearing what this guy just said to me? Basically what he just said is that, if I’m in a car full of black guys and we’re dressed in gangster clothing … means that they’re getting stopped.”
The police officer in the video continues:
“It’s not harassment. You might not see that as a reason and some police officers would be scared to say that. But it’s a fact.
We work on criminal profiles and unfortunately here, the criminal profile for robberies, what we suspect, is IC3 males, generally from Somalia.”
IC3 is the police code for black men.
DMO Deejay says he was not ticketed or arrested.
Jack Griffith, a spokesman with London’s Metropolitan Police Service, said police officials were aware of the video and were reviewing how the stop was handled.
“A senior officer will make contact with the man who was stopped to apologize and ask if he wishes to make a complaint. We can understand why based on what has been circulated in the footage it has caused frustration. The officers will be spoken to about the explanation that they provided and to ensure we fully understand the circumstances of what happened.”
Not the first time
That wasn’t the first time the DJ had been stopped by the police that day. He said he had been stopped earlier while driving to a business meeting in a different vehicle. DMO Deejay told CNN it’s frustrating getting stopped so much.
“It’s quite embarrassing actually,” he said. “They can stop you anywhere, anytime.”
He decided to release the video to create awareness about what black male drivers go through.
“This is happening all around the world,” he said. “I mean just because one black person does something wrong doesn’t mean all black people do.”
He hasn’t had any other issues with the police since the last traffic stop. He’s been off the streets, working in the studio on new projects.
