Arlene Mundle: Brixton Leader Building Bridges Arlene Mundle, who has died of cancer aged 47, was a campaigner for social justice and a fearsome adversary to anyone who stood in her way. She was a crucial figure in reshaping relations between the black community and the police in south London, but her influence stretched far wider, touching the very heart of national policing policy. Born in Portland, Jamaica, Arlene was the granddaughter of a prosperous businessman and the daughter of an RAF warrant officer. When she was two, her family moved to Hong Kong, where her earliest memories were of life on the military base as the only black family. She recalled no overt racism, just a sense of being different and special - qualities which continued to set her apart. In the late 1950s, her grandfather brought the family to Brixton, south London, where she and her sisters went to the Dick Sheppard school. At the age of 16, she began work as a secretary and switchboard operator. In her early 20s, she married Lascelves Mundle and had two children, Rascelles and Acqua, though the marriage broke up shortly afterwards. Later, she met Cecil "Junior" Williams, with whom she had a daughter, Cassandra. Attracted by his sense of life's possibilities, she recalled this as her happiest period. By the mid-1980s, Arlene was enjoying the showy affluence of the times, earning good money as an escort in West End clubs. It was also the period in which crack- cocaine started appearing in Britain, and Arlene's life took a downward turn as she became sucked into the world of drugs and crime. In the mid-90s, Junior and Arlene separated. Arlene knew it was time to turn her life around. There was another blow when her friend Brian Douglas died in police custody in 1995. His family mounted a campaign to press for justice, and Arlene threw herself into this activity with a passion and fury. This was her first encounter with the community police consultative group in Lambeth, which was to become the platform from which she launched her public career. Arlene's temper was legendary, and, at first, her anger at the racism and injustice she perceived as endemic in police relations with black people boiled at an almost uncontrollable pitch. But she harnessed that energy, in particular working with Lee Jasper's 1990 Trust, motivating others and engaging her organisational skills to huge effect. She met Stephen Lawrence's parents and, through various campaigns, started to understand more about police work. Arlene saw how black victims of crime were being poorly served by the police, but, more controversially, believed change would only come if the black community engaged with the authorities to push for it. No one pushed harder than she did. Her direct approach and unorthox methods - telephone calls in the early hours, even to senior officers, were her trademark - came as a culture shock to the Metropolitan police. But at a time when the police needed to listen, she had plenty to say, so she was employed to provide a much-needed community perspective for senior officers on training exercises, and to advise an operation tackling drug-related gun crime, codenamed Trident. At times, Arlene jeopardised her own safety, but she was never afraid to speak out against the villains on her doorstep, and took the lead in promoting a highly successful firarms amnesty in Lambeth. During the tension that followed the Brixton nailbombing in 1999, she was a conduit of understanding between grassroots black feeling and the police investigation. When her cancer was diagnosed just before Christmas last year, messages of support came in from chief constables and from public figures such as Neville Lawrence, the home secretary Jack Straw, and the former football star Ian Wright. Two months ago, she received a Metropolitan police commissioner's commendation. Everything Arlene achieved was done through her own efforts. Tragically, her illness struck just as she was to embark on a law degree at Southampton University. Her life was about transformation and she would have become a fine lawyer. She is survived by her three children and her mother. Lee Jasper writes: Arlene Mundle was the kind of person whom you felt you had known for years. In that sense she was an "old soul". I first met her through my association with the Brian Douglas Family Campaign in 1995. Working for me at the 1990 Trust, she had convinced me of the need to speak publicly about how the black community could work with the police to tackle crack-cocaine gun violence. It was a difficult position to take. Nevertheless, she worked hard to ensure I spoke about these issues publicly. Make no mistake, Arlene gave me the confidence to speak out. Her enthusiasm was infectious. Over the years, she developed leadership skills and became a figure in her own right. To me, she was my sister and confidant. In Jamaican terms, she was my key spar. Her work will remain a shining testimony to her selfless dedication. Arlene Mundle, community leader and police adviser, born August 17 1953; died March 2 2001. (Reprinted from the Guardian)