"A lot of my friends stopped talking to me."

Love Island star Mike Boateng has opened up about the moral dilemma he faced as a black police officer, and explained his reasoning for joining the force. Speaking to JOE as part of a panel discussing police violence and racism in the UK a year on from George Floyd's death, Mike said that he joined the police because he felt like the police is "meant to be a representation of the public." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0u1VYs0PUQ Asked by drill rapper Drillminister why he joined the police, Mike said: "My reasoning for wanting to join is that I just felt like [...] the police itself is meant to be a representation of the public. "If you don't have Black people you're not a representation of the public, so my thinking was if I don't join and I don't encourage my other brothers and sisters to join, then we can never truly reflect the public. "That was my reasoning." However, Mike, who appeared on Love Island in 2020, admitted that it was a moral dilemma for him and caused rifts with family and friends. He said: "I got slated for it [joining the police]. "A lot of my family weren't on it, a lot of my friends stopped talking to me. "Trust me, it burnt." On the very same day that Mike spoke as part of the panel, along with All Black Lives co-founder Natasha Johnson, actor Kelechi Okafor, director Ken Fero and Drillminister, he tweeted about the abuse he receives online because of his involvement in the police. https://twitter.com/MichaelBoateng_/status/1395682714850844676 https://twitter.com/MichaelBoateng_/status/1395683807966208009 You can see the full clip of Mike discussing his time in the police, in which he also suggests what needs to be done to make things better, below. https://twitter.com/PoliticsJOE_UK/status/1397921970423959572