I can't speak about Black British communities, but my sense of African American communities is that individuals aren't expected to "take orders" from persons who they consider to be leaders of their communities.

I didn't imply that the policy was working. By and large it isn't, and the politicians who spout this colonialist crap are mostly ignored (except by opportunists who see being such a "community leader" as a step into politics).

The police have been trying for years to get anyone with any sort of status in British Islam to act as (at best) community police officers and (at worst) informers. (Strathclyde Police's payments-to-informers budget has quadrupled in the last two years, and they've been one of the most aggressive forces in the UK in in exercising political control over Muslims; they aren't saying what sort of "crime" the money's being directed at). Didn't the FBI ever attempt to suborn Black Christian leaders in similar ways?