Police dine out on racism crackdown

Waiters from ethnic minorities can be victims of abuse

Undercover police have launched an operation to crack down on racist abuse by eating out at London restaurants.

Metropolitan Police officers have been dining at a variety of restaurants - including Indian, Chinese, Thai and Yugoslavian - to try to stop verbal or physical attacks on waiters from ethnic minorities.

The initiative, called Operation Poet, was launched last weekend. It has yet to result in any arrests, but is said to be heavily oversubscribed.

It is part of the force's March Against Hate - its spring drive against racist and homophobic crime and domestic violence.

The operation is aimed at reassuring local restaurateurs they do not have to suffer in silence.

'Pleasant night out'

Detective Chief Inspector Brett Lovegrove, who is heading the initiative, said: "The operation sends out a clear message to those who commit racist crime - this behaviour will not be tolerated in Westminster.

"My officers are working in partnership with local restaurant owners and their staff to ensure that a pleasant night out remains just that for all involved.

"These operations will be repeated. We want the racists to be on the back foot.

"I encourage any restaurant of any culture to contact us."

The initiative was the idea of Murad Qureshi, a local councillor, who said: "I thank the Metropolitan Police for putting considerable resources into this operation.

"The Chinese and Bengali communities of the City of Westminster will greatly appreciate this effort by the police.

"Anecdotally we all know of instances when we've been in an Indian and Chinese restaurant late on a Friday and Saturday night and seen some pretty awful behaviour towards waiters.

"We've got to build confidence in the ethnic communities which have this particular problem that it is being taken seriously and the police will put the resources in."