'Black parents must tackle thefts'

Black and Asian communities need to take more responsibility in the fight against youth crime, Britain's most senior ethnicminority policeman warned today.

Minority civic leaders must accept "that crime within their own communities is their problem and they must take a lead in sorting it out," said Metropolitan Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur.

Failure to grasp the nettle would cause minorities to suffer doubly, Mr Ghaffur said - falling victim to crime themselves, while also seeing their children branded criminals.

His forthright comments are unprecedented and sure to provoke controversy.

Mr Ghaffur, a 47-year-old father of two who fled Idi Amin's Uganda for Britain, was speaking following a Home Office study which found that gangs of black youths were mainly to blame for the sharp rise in mobile phone robberies.

He said many speedily graduated to more serious crime. "Research shows that most of these youngsters involved in this sort of criminal career progression are from black and other minority communities, and this has implications for the long-term harmony of race relations in the UK.

The great majority of blacks, Asians, and other minorities wanted their children to thrive within a stable British society, Mr Ghaffur said in an interview with the Daily Mail. That means there needs to be "recognition that crime within their own communities is their problem and they must take a lead in sorting it out".

Mr Ghaffur, who has carried out extensive research on youth offending, called for a broader debate to include the impact of immigration and asylum seekers.

Evidence of how volatile this subject is came at a meeting called by black organisations in Brixton last night. The debate at the Fridge nightclub was called Are Black Kids to Blame for Street Robbery, and prompted stormy exchanges among the audience. Organisers said the issue had to be tackled head-on, but many of the 200-strong audience were offended by the title, and there was a demonstration outside against it.