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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5406912.stm

http://www.sovereignty.org.uk/siteinfo/newsround/pcplod1.html

"The torture and race-murder of 15 year old Glasgow teenager Kriss Donald on 16 March 2004, was one of the most horrific crimes ever to have occured in mainland Britain, in living memory. However, unless you live in Glasgow you have probably never even heard of Kriss Donald.

The national UK media have kept it quiet because it doesn't "fit" into their framework where the only race attacks we are ever meant to hear about and know about are white-on-black.

At the same time, Strathclyde Police have come under the spotlight for their failure to police the Asian gangs in Pollokshields properly because of an unprofessional fear of being called "racist".

Here a former Chief Inspector of Strathclyde Police helps to explain what has gone wrong.

"WHY POLICE ARE AFRAID TO TACKLE ASIAN CRIME
Political correctness protects young ethnic offenders
by Mike Liddell
Former Strathclyde Police chief inspector
Scottish Daily Mail
Friday, November 19, 2004, p. 14

IT was a crime of breathtaking callousness and depravity that shocked all Scotland. The murder of Kriss Donald was an act of brutality more readily associated with the likes of Bogota or Baghdad.

Yet this awful crime was played out in the leafy suburb of Pollokshields in Glasgow - and has left its residents searching for some kind of explanation.

As a former senior police officer in Strathclyde with 30 years' experience, I believe the answer is clear - though, for many, it will prove unpalatable.

In my view, crime within Glasgow's Asian community has been allowed to grow unfettered for years. Why? Because the police have been afraid to fight it in case they are accused of racism.

It was this basic failure to act that created the conditions which, at least in part, allowed the murder of Kriss Donald to happen.

This inactivity and its deadly consequences stemmed not from the attitude of officers on the street, but from the craven approach of their bosses to race-relations. For years now, a 'softly, softly' attitude towards crime in the ethnic community has prevailed - a disastrous policy born of the excessive interference of politicians.

The simple truth for senior officers is that they are not going to win that longed-for promotion or the coveted knighthood if they upset the local politicians who control the police boards.

So the attitude among Scotland's police hierarchy is: 'Be careful not to upset the ethnic community - they may start complaining.'

What was striking about the Kriss Donald murder was the confidence his attackers, Daanish Zahid and Zahid Mohammed, displayed as they trawled the streets looking for their victim.

We heard at the trial of a group of youths involved in the search, brawls in the street and a Mercedes being driven around the city with the victim aboard.

How is this possible?

Educated
Clearly, the Asian community is no less law-abiding than any other part of society. But on the South Side of Glasgow there is a significant group of young Asian men, mostly between 15 and 30, who are simply out of control. They believe they are beyond the law.

They are for the most part well-educated and well-off: driving around in a luxury foreign car is very much their style, but they receive no parental discipline and recognise no authority.

They are heavily involved in drug-dealing and crimes such as reset and fraud; some groups are well-organised, members travel extensively and have connections abroad.

Internal disputes and violence are common - and a cricket bat is often the weapon of choice.

They are very aware the police are reluctant to challenge them in anything less than the most extreme circumstances for fear of being branded as racist.

Make no mistake: they use the race card without mercy and in today's climate even an unsubstantiated complaint can damage an officer's career.

I was a chief inspector in Govan and my area of responsibility bordered Pollokshields.

Disturbed by rumours of young men being seriously assaulted and failing to report the crime, I set up a small plain clothes team to find out what was happening. It soon became apparent something was going on in the Asian community that the police knew nothing about.

It seemed the focus of activity was in Pollokshields and the intelligence-gathering group expanded to include officers from that area.

The extent of the involvement of some Asian youths in serious criminal activity was revealed. But in spite of the evidence, no serious effort was made to take action against them because senior officers decided to do nothing about it.

Police in Strathclyde are no strangers to being let down by their commanders when it comes to tough decisions involving the Asian community.

In 2001, South Side residents were dismayed to learn of the closure of a local swimming pool. A peaceful demonstration was hijacked by local youths many of them Asian.

Attacked
Police officers were refused permission to defend themselves when they were attacked

by this group. They were ordered to stand in line while the youths were given free licence to bombard them with stones, rotten fruit and plastic bags full of urine.

A number of officers were injured, at least one seriously. Few arrests were made.

I spoke to a number of officers afterwards and most believed their commanders had failed in their duty to protect them because they feared a political backlash that would damage their careers.

This attitude has been fuelled partly, by Scotland's burgeoning race relations industry and by a climate of intense political correctness. Barely a week goes by now without a new report on some aspect of race relations.

Many of our institutions, primarily the police, have been regularly criticised. But the response from police chiefs has been to try to avoid criticism by turning a blind eye to ethnic crime. This growing unwillingness to tackle such crime has meant that the public are increasingly getting a raw deal.

Scottish Executive research has discovered police officers are failing to use their powers to prevent and detect crime committed by members of the black and ethnic community.

I know from my own experience that a very high percentage of detentions or arrests of black and ethnic youths results in complaints of racial bias.

While I was a chief inspector in Glasgow's South Side, I monitored crimes and arrests every day. I knew when I saw a black or ethnic name that a complaint against the police would almost inevitably follow.

In my area, the detection rate for all crime was 45 per cent. For crimes reported as racially motivated, it was at least 90 per cent. The difference reflects the fact that a lot more effort goes into dealing with crimes reported as racially motivated.

They are monitored more scrupulously and local commanders are under more pressure to get results for that type of crime.

Exploited
This would not be a concern but for the fact that the definition of a racially motivated crime is so wide that almost every crime against the ethnic community can fall within it. Quite naturally, this situation is exploited by those who would benefit from it.

The police service in Scotland is not institutionally racist - it is institutionally institutional.

While it nominally serves the community, the real masters, as always, are the people in power and those who influence them.

The Asian community, like the rest of the country, is utterly appalled and outraged by Kriss Donald's murder.

But I believe his violent death was a result of the political correctness that has gripped the police service in Scotland for years.

Perhaps it is time, at last, for senior officers to forget about their gongs and promotions and finally protect the public - the job they were sworn to do."