THERE IS “institutional racism” in the police force in Scotland, the sister of a man who died after being restrained by police officers in Fife in 2015 has said.

Kadi Johnson commented on the culture of Police Scotland following the announcement that there will be a public inquiry into her brother Sheku Bayoh’s death.

On Wednesday, during an appearance on BBC Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Johnson said: “We believe race played its part in the way my brother died because the way they treated him, they way they treated us as a family, all of that proved that race was involved in his death.”

“Yes, I think there is institutional racism in the police force,” she added.

Justice secretary Humza Yousaf confirmed on Tuesday (November 12) that a public inquiry would be held into Bayoh’s death. 

While all deaths in police custody are subject to a mandatory Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI), it was determined that this alone would not be sufficient to address all of the relevant factors in this case.

In a statement Yousaf said: “The Lord Advocate, as head of the system for the investigation of deaths in Scotland, considers the remit of a FAI would not allow all the issues which require to be investigated to be addressed. FAIs can examine circumstances and factors leading up to a death, but not what follows after, and in this case, the Lord Advocate has identified questions, raising issues of public interest and importance, about the early stages of the post-incident management of the investigation that an FAI simply could not examine.

“That being the case, it is imperative that the circumstances leading up to Mr Bayoh’s death and the events that followed are examined in full and in public.”

The independent public inquiry will explore whether or not Bayoh’s race was a factor in how he was treated by officers and how the incident was dealt with by police.

Lord Advocate James Wolffe has confirmed that there will be no criminal proceedings against Police Scotland or the individual police officers in connection to Bayoh’s death.

While Bayoh’s family have expressed their devastation that no criminal proceedings will take place, they have welcomed the news of a public inquiry and are hoping to get the truth.

Kadi Johnson, the sister of Sheku Bayoh, said: “The last four and a half years hasn’t been easy for us. We want this inquiry to mean something and Sheku’s death not to have been in vain. His name has been tarnished in the past four years. This is about achieving justice for Sheku and for a fairer Scotland for all irrespective of race and background.”

Bayoh, originally from Sierra Leone, was 31 when he was restrained by around five police officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in May 2015.

Police had responded to reports of a man wielding a knife and behaving erratically.

Bayoh’s family say CCTV shows he was neither acting violently towards police or waving around a knife.

The trainee gas engineer and father-of-two was held face down on the ground by police officers. Officers also used CS spray, batons, leg and ankle restraints and handcuffs on him.

Approximately an hour and a half after being restrained, Bayoh was pronounced dead in hospital.

Bayoh had MDMA and another stimulant in his system, the Scottish Police Federation reported.