A teenage schoolgirl was arrested by police for racism after refusing to sit with a group of Asian students because some of them did not speak English.Codie Stott’s family claim she was forced to spend three-and-a-half hours in a police cell after she was reported by her teachers. The 14-year-old – who was released without charge – said it had been a simple matter of commonsense and accused the school and police of an over-the-top reaction.
The incident happened in the same local education authority where a ten-year-old boy was prosecuted earlier this year for calling a schoolfriend racist names in the playground, a move branded by a judge “political correctness gone mad.”
Codie was attending a GCSE science class at Harrop Fold High School in Worsley, Greater Manchester (England), when the incident happened. The teenager had not been in school the day before due to a hospital appointment and had missed the start of a project, so the teacher allocated her a group to sit with.
“She said I had to sit there with five Asian pupils,” said Codie yesterday. “Only one could speak English, so she had to tell that one what to do so she could explain in their language. Then she sat me with them and said ‘Discuss’.”
According to Codie, the five – four boys and a girl – then began talking in a language she didn’t understand, thought to be Urdu, so she went to speak to the teacher.
“I said ‘I’m not being funny, but can I change groups because I can’t understand them?’ But she started shouting and screaming, saying ‘It’s racist, you’re going to get done by the police’.”
Codie said she went outside to calm down where another teacher found her and, after speaking to her class teacher, put her in isolation for the rest of the day.
A complaint was made to a police officer based full-time at the school, and more than a week after the incident on September 26 she was taken to Swinton police station and placed under arrest.
“They told me to take my laces out of my shoes and remove my jewellery, and I had my fingerprints and photograph taken,” said Codie. “It was awful.”
The school is investigating what happened before deciding on what action to take against Codie.
Greater Manchester Police said it took hate crime reports very seriously and its treatment of the teenager was in line with normal procedure.
‘A 14-year-old girl was arrested on suspicion of a Section 5 racial public order offence. “She was questioned before being released without charge.’
Robert Whelan, deputy director of the Civitas think-tank, said: “A lot of these arrests don’t result in prosecutions – they aim is to frighten us into self-censorship until we watch everything we say.”
Compiled from sources:
Schoolgirl arrested for refusing to study with non-English pupils
Schoolgirl arrested for racism
Classroom ‘racism’ arrest
Girl arrested in racism inquiry
