Author: Larry Fedja

Larry Fedja

‘Community Monitors’ to keep watch on policing of Birmingham’s Simmer Down Festival

police-watchprovided by: Netpol
published: 9 July 2014

On 20 July 2014, a team of trained independent ‘Community Monitors’ will observe and record the actions of police officers and security staff during Birmingham’s popular Simmer Down Reggae Festival.

Community scrutiny of the policing operation in and around Handsworth Park, where the festival takes place, is part of Netpol’s Community Monitoring Project and has been organised alongside 4WardEver UK, Birmingham Ethnic Minorities Association (BEMA) and BirminghamStrong Justice 4 All.

Funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation enables Netpol to pilot three community monitoring projects in different parts of the country, which aim to increase police accountability over the treatment of individuals and the process of local decision-making in each of the three pilot areas.

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Larry Fedja

Naphtali speaks out: Fury as ‘lethal’ Taser use on children rises

Tippa Naphtali - 2011-2by: The Sunday Post 
published: 27 October 2013

4WardEver’s Tippa Naphtali speaks out to Sunday Post.

A furious row has broken out over the use of police stun guns on children. Official guidelines warn of potentially fatal consequences if youths are hit by the 50,000-volt Taser devices. But despite this, their use in confrontations with under-18s has rocketed by 1,000% over five years.

Figures show police used the weapons on just 29 occasions in 2007 but that shot up to 323 in 2011, an average of six times a week.

This included firing them outright and doing “drive stuns” in which the device is placed against a youth’s body and fired without causing incapacitation.

Justice campaigners said the soaring use of Tasers on children was a major concern. However police defended their actions.

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Larry Fedja

Campaigners pressure police to improve

Tippa Naphtali 2013by: The Voice Online
published: 4 July 2013

Mikey Powell, Kingsley Burrell, Sean Rigg, Olaseni Lewis, Roger Sylvester and many more – the tragic roll call of names of those who have died in police custody were read out several times during the UK’s first ever public forum on black mental health.

Senior political figures joined forces with police chiefs, health professionals, and also families of the dead who gave traumatic accounts of their long fight seeking justice for their loved ones.

Those directly involved in policing and mental health vowed it will be a turning point in the campaign for justice, empathy and expertise when dealing with those in mental crisis.

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