It has now been agreed that appropriately trained immigration officers may conduct their own operational visits in the Metropolitan Police District of London, without the need for full police support.

    Plans by the Immigration Nationality Directorate (IND) to greatly increase arrests of asylum seekers, were revealed in September. IND plans to dramatically increase the number of failed asylum seekers it picks up in London from 10 people a day to a massive 800 people a week. In the short term they intend to operate within the East London area. IND and MPA acknowledge that activity against failed asylum seekers is likely to generate community tension

    Fishing expeditions: IND teams will go out with several files, where addresses are grouped in a limited area, with the aim of visiting addresses until a target is found. When a target is found, he or she will be taken to the nearest holding centre and detained there until collection by Wackenhut (private prisoner conveyance contractor) and transfer to a detention centre, or in certain cases, directly to an airport for removal.

    A Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) report outlined two options for the police service in handling the huge intake. The first option was dispersal of asylum seekers to police stations across London. This was dropped in favour of the second option which was to use an empty police building in North West London to hold those arrested.

    The report identified several risks which would result from this increase in IND activity against failed asylum seekers. It highlighted concerns that such action is "likely to generate community tension and possibly a requirement for public order maintenance".

    The report also points out that "In the event of a death or serious injury occurring while a person is detailed, it is highly likely that there will arise a public perception that the fault lies with the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service)."

    The Police Authority (PA) had not been consulted on these plans to dramatically increase daily arrests. The PA are clearly disturbed by possible negative impact on their work. "Assisting IND with the detention and repatriation of failed asylum seekers may hinder our efforts to improve relations with the broader community of asylum seekers, particularly in resect of our work to reduce hate crime."

    Jenny Jones, Green Assembly Member at the Greater London Authority, warns that "none of us want a repeat of the Joyce Gardner tragedy and the resultant riots in London. The Police Authority has not been consulted on the plans for a tenfold increase in the number of daily arrests in London. This is an unrealistic strategy dreamed up in Whitehall, leaving both Londoners and the Metropolitan Police to pick up the pieces."