Sheffield top cop says there is 'no place for racism in police service'

The arrest took place on Clun Street, Burngreave, on April 9 and involved Kieron Calvin, who passed a video to The Star showing the incident, which left him with swelling to his arms and wrists, for which he and his mum went to hospital afterwards.

The video shows two officers initially holding him down while another stands next to them. Five more police cars then arrive with blue lights flashing. Up to seven officers, including armed police, are then seen holding him.

Mr Calvin said he believes the scale of the reaction was because he is black, and claims it happened after he tried to open the passenger door of an untaxed car which was being towed away.

Sheffield’s District Commander, Chief Superintendent Shelley Hemsley, said that she is aware of the incident and understands that ‘an arrest was made and an officer had to call for assistance by using their emergency button and a number of officers attended’.

Chf Supt Hemsley said the force has released as much information as they are able to at this time, adding that video clips shared in the public domain ‘may not always show the full event’.

She also said she wished to ‘wholeheartedly reassure’ people that ‘there is no place for racism in the police service, not in the city of Sheffield’.

“There is no place for anything that looks like, or is, overt or sounds like is, racism,” added Chf Supt Hemsley.

She continued by saying the force is ‘doing a lot of work in order to reassure the public that racism has no place in the police through work that takes place in our neighbourhood policing teams’.

“We’ve also got a cohort of our officers working to try and encourage more candidates from black and Asian ethnic minorities to join the police, because clearly, if we look like the communities we serve that gets greater trust and confidence and we clearly need to try to improve our representation within our service,” added Chf Supt Hemsley.

In addition, the chief superintendent said her belief there is ‘no place for racism’ in South Yorkshire Police is ‘one of the reasons why’ she took part in the Race Equality Commission carried out in Sheffield in 2020 and 2021.

The Commission considered a range of written and oral evidence received from organisations and individuals from Sheffield and other cities and ‘looked at what people thought would work to tackle racism and racial inequalities in the city’.

The Commission’s final report and recommendations were due to be published by the end of last year, but have been delayed and are now expected this year.

Chf Supt Hemsley said: “I’m really looking forward to seeing what some of those recommendations will be. There will be some that will be around policing, and we need to take those on board.”

Following Mr Calvin’s arrest, South Yorkshire Police confirmed they had charged a man with obstructing a police officer and say the force’s Professional Standards Department is reviewing the matter.

Mr Calvin said he is making an official complaint to police.