As we all know she was a passenger in a car that was pulled over by the Met at the weekend.
We couldn’t fail to know as Dawn decided to turn the stop into a twitter soap opera her first tweet breathlessly declared, ‘I JUST GOT STOPPED BY THE POLICE DRIVING THROUGH HACKNEY... MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW.
I recorded the whole incident.’
The tweet implied that she was the driver of the car which we found out later was not the case.
However why tweet out only half the story Dawn? Why not tell everyone that the matter was resolved? Why turn this into a drama, a political drama; it was hardly a George Floyd incident, was it?
When Dawn did release the video later, it was not a film of the whole incident and I wonder why?
This fuelled the conspiracy theorists who claimed that the MP was race baiting and attacking the police.
Theories started spreading that she had ‘flipped the camera’ to make it look like she was driving, which she denies, and that the driver was white.
I haven't got a clue about the validity of either claim but I do know how to put the controversy to bed and it called full disclosure.
Dawn Butler should immediately release all of her phone footage, unedited, and the body camera tapes of both of the coppers should be released, then we will get to the truth.
These are serious allegations and could, as in the past, lead to a Police Officer losing his or her job.
We Must Know the Facts
The Met Police Federation chairman, Ken Marsh, has stated "We are fed up with individuals being allowed to film my colleagues with impunity and put it out on every social media strand within five seconds, wherever they want, but we're not allowed under legal grounds… to do the same, to put my colleagues' body-worn camera out immediately.
"Now, that sounds a bit perverse, don't you think, because we've got nothing to hide.
I'm talking about transparency here.”
He is correct but Cressida Dick is refusing to release the films even though she is on the record as saying she does not believe her force is institutionally racist and is on the record stating that, “I do not believe that term is helpful”
Too right it isn’t!
But now that MP Dawn Butler is stating categorically that her stop was institutional racism at play then it is time for Dick of the Yard to stand by her officers and show us all, the people who pay their wages including Butlers, the bloody videos.
This by the way does not mean I am supporting the officers or saying they are the innocent party. What I’m after are the facts because I tend to agree with Ken Marsh when he says "If you think they're that stupid in this day and age that they would act in an inappropriate or unlawful way knowing they're filming themselves, I mean, come on, let's have some logic."
Of course, I may be completely wrong but this divisive incident must be put to bed now.
If Dawn is telling the truth then the coppers need to be disciplined but if she is lying or exaggerating then she must consider her position as an MP and Starmer must withdraw the whip.
There are of course still questions over why the police officers inputted (incorrectly as it turns out, the car registration), and of course Butler believes that this was racial profiling. This need investigating too.
Most people with expensive motors would welcome this small intrusion into their lives surely?
Dawn has subsequently spoken to the Met and they explained and apologised for their mistake on inputting the number so why couldn’t Butler leave it at that. Why is she making this such a drama? Why is she playing to the gallery or the camera I wonder?
I am sure that there are racists in the police as there are in many areas of UK life and these individuals should be rooted out and booted out BUT to condemn the whole 30 thousand force as racist is both alarmist and downright dangerous for community relations.
From the luxury of the passenger seat of a luxury car just what message was Dawn sending out to the feral youths who are infesting our streets and killing each other?
She showed the coppers zero respect and acted in an arrogant and dismissive way to them. Whereas they appeared even from even Dawn’s edited video to act in a courteous and polite way to her.
No wonder there is no respect for the police and that the first instinct of anyone questioned by the cops now is not to ask for a solicitor but to pull out their mobile phone and start acting like some victim of police brutality even before the facts are established.
The Maxim That Camera Never Lies is a Lie
Of course, the camera only captures what it focuses on and with editing on the fly you will only get the truth by looking at any incident from several angles. In Butler's case we have at least three angles, so let’s see them.
If Dawn Butler really believed in Black lives Matter she would be trying to calm down the growing divide between the community she is meant to represent and the police. She would not be trying to turn it into a soap opera, a very dangerous soap opera, in these pressure cooker times in the UK.
Of course, her job is not to blindly support the cops and if they do wrong they need investigating and reporting and throwing out but I fail to see how this incident and the way Butler has played it so far is helping anyone particularly the black youth of London.
With full disclosure of all videos we will know if the Cops acted in a racist manner. We will know who was driving the car. We will know if any racism occurred and hopefully we will know who, if anyone is the liar. Simples!