WHAT?

Have the British police lost their minds? Via the Guardian:

The police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place, the Guardian has learned.

The proposal will be considered as part of a review of the raid in Forest Gate, east London, a fortnight ago when 250 officers stormed a family house searching for a chemical weapon which was not found. One man was shot and police have apologised for the “hurt” caused by the raid which has further damaged strained relations with the local community. The review began this week and is expected to be completed before the end of the month.

While such a review after a controversial incident is standard, this one is unique because British Muslims are involved from the start.

A senior police source with knowledge of the issues involved said: “We are working on sharing more information with the community before, during and after events so they understand as much of the context as we can provide.”

[…]

Any British Muslims shown intelligence would be security vetted but would not have a veto on the raid.

The review includes members of the Muslim Safety Forum, which aims to improve relations between police and British Muslim communities.

Azad Ali, its chairman, said fresh measures, such as British Muslims being able to advise the police on their intelligence and how to act on it before any raid, must be found. “Greater cooperation with the police is possible, but it needs the police to take creative steps to build trust,” he said. “There are people keen to help the police, but episodes like Forest Gate and the way it was mishandled stoke up the mistrust.”

Right. If British Muslims were so “keen” on helping the police, maybe the police wouldn’t have conducted a raid on a home that didn’t contain the chemical weapon they thought it did in the first place!

And as far as those ‘damaged relations’ between the Muslim community and the police go, I can’t imagine why relations would be strained. No, not at all.

Back to the proposal, even considering it is ridiculous. It’s hard to figure out what the British police are thinking here. I wonder if there will be any public outcry in the UK over this idea?

Canadian Conservative writes:

If the goal is to enhance, or provide perspective, on intelligence then shouldn’t law enforcement have some Muslims or Islamic experts on staff?

Otherwise, including non-law-enforcement, ‘community groups’ is either political correctness gone nuts or an attempt to defuse blame should another raid turn up nothing. Either way this would appear to be a dangerous precedent and a total waste of time.

Yep.