Behind the Blue Line My Fight Against Racism and Discrimination in the Police

Detective Sergeant Gurpal Singh Virdi'sexemplary career in the Metropolitan Police Service ended when he spoke outagainst racism within it: an issue it has long paid lip service to tackling.What came after is simply shocking. On Wednesday 15 April 1998 Virdi wasarrested, had his home searched and was suspended on charges of sending racisthate mail to himself and other ethnic minority colleagues. Dismissed indisgrace, an employment tribunal found that he had been raciallydiscriminated against. The Met was forced to give him an apology andcompensation. He returned to service but soon discovered, having been passedover for promotion, that when you challenge an organisation like the Met, youare a marked man for life. Freshly retired and due to stand in localelections as a Labour councillor, Virdi was arrested again and accused of themost horrendous of crimes: sexually assaulting an underage prisoner nearlythree decades before. When it came to court, it took just fifty minutes toacquit the former police man of all charges, with the trial judge noting thelikelihood of a conspiracy behind the case. But the damage had been done. Forseventeen years the Met had pursued a vendetta against one blameless individualwho dared to speak out against injustices, and it had driven him and his familyto the edge of the abyss. This is the deeply shocking story of how one of thebiggest institutions in the country brought the entire apparatus of state tobear in a campaign to destroy the life of one of its own officers in anapparent act of revenge.