Petr Torak

Petr Torak MBE (born 8 March 1981) is a police officer in the UK who grew up in the Czech Republic and comes from a Roma background. His police work is centred on Czech and Slovak Roma people, the issues they face, and wider questions arising from their migration to England. In 2015, Torak was awarded an MBE for "services to the Roma community".

Background

Torak was born in Liberec in the Czech Republic and studied at the Law Academy there. In 1999 he and his parents sought asylum in the UK, after suffering violent attacks with political[1] and racist motives.[2][3] Initially, Torak worked as a volunteer in a solicitor's office in Southend-on-Sea. After gaining a work permit he was employed in fast food, factories and supermarkets before joining Cambridgeshire Police in 2006 as a Community Support Officer working in Millfield, Peterborough. In 2008 he became a fully-fledged police officer.[1]

Police work

He works in Peterborough, a city with many recent east European immigrants,[1][4] and his language skills (Czech, Polish, Slovak, Portuguese, English and some Russian) and cultural understanding have been commented on favourably.[3][5] He is a project co-ordinator in a local organisation, COMPAS, which tries to promote community cohesion[6] and is also a trained mediator for ROMED, an EU project which trains mediators to help Roma communities communicate with local authorities.[7]

Torak has been called on to consult with groups concerned about "modern slavery" and similar issues affecting migrants from Eastern Europe, like young women forced into sex work,[8] and workers exploited by gangmasters.[9] He has also been invited to participate in a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) about Roma and Sinti "interactions with law enforcement agencies". Answering questions, he said he was "initially regarded as a "Roma police officer", but ... now works with all members of the community, an example of how the Roma community can play a role in mainstream society."[10]

Torak is actively involved with the Gypsy Roma Traveller Police Association (GRTPA) which offers a network of support for Traveller and Romany police officers who often hide their ancestry for fear of prejudice,[2] and is currently the executive director of the association.[7] Torak has encouraged Roma people in the UK to consider policing as a possible career choice.[2][11]

In 2015 he was given an honorary MBE (an MBE for non-Commonwealth citizens) for "services to the Roma community".[12]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Roma gipsy who fled Czech Republic is the new face of British policing, Daily Mail, 5 April 2008
  2. 1 2 3 Campbell, Duncan (2015-07-21). "Gypsy police officers band together to beat prejudice in the force". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  3. 1 2 Czech Roma police officer to receive OBE from Queen Elizabeth II, Radio Prague, 17 April 2015
  4. ↑ Polish migrants make Millfield mirror Warsaw, The Telegraph, 20 Sep 2007
  5. ↑ Parliamentary Select Committee on Communities and Local Government Tenth Report, 2008
  6. ↑ Czech library section opens, Peterborough Telegraph, 30 April 2011
  7. 1 2 GRTPA
  8. ↑ Bishops tackle slavery in East Anglia, The Catholic Universe, 8 July 2016
  9. ↑ Migrant workers face new slavery, BBC, 19 March 2007
  10. ↑ OSCE, Summary Report of the Expert Meeting: Police and Roma and Sinti - Current Challenges and Good Practices in Building Trust and Understanding, 10 June 2014
  11. ↑ UK's first Roma policeman comes to Derby, Derby Telegraph, 4 Feb 2016
  12. ↑ Honorary MBE for Peterborough police officer for services to Roma community, Peterborough Telegraph, 5 November 2015
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