The New Dark Age

In January 2021, Awate Suleiman, UNJUST & Liberty launched a legal challenge against the Met Police over the racist Gangs Matrix. Days before the case was meant to be heard, the Met Police settled the claim, admitting that the Gangs Matrix breached people’s right to privacy.

Unsurprisingly, the Met Police refused to accept that the Gangs Matrix was discriminatory in mainly focussing on young Black men & boys. Because of this legal challenge, thousands of people, including children and youth, were removed from the database.

Now, on request, the Met Police must verify people’s status. However, due to the covert nature of the Gangs Matrix, we know many people may never have been aware that they were on the database in the first place.

That’s why UNJUST, 4FRONT and Tottenham Rights have formed the Erase The Database Collective, to help people find out if they were listed and seek redress.

If you think you might have been on the Gangs Matrix database, you can submit a Subject Access Request (SAR) to find out. Submitting a SAR will allow you to:

• Find out whether you were on the Gangs Matrix, what the police have said about you and which organisations they have shared this information with.
• Potentially challenge the information about you on the Gangs Matrix, and the decisions organisations have made based on information from the Matrix.
• Potentially seek compensation.

You can find our more about submitting a SAR on the Erase the Database site, as well as contact them for support with the process.