Petition Require all police officers to take Anti-Racism education

The Code of Ethics requires all police officers and staff to take active steps to oppose discrimination and make their decisions free from prejudice: this principle is at the heart of police practice.

The Government condemns racism and racists. Racism, in any form, is abhorrent and has no place in our society. No one should be targeted because of their race and stop and search should safeguard communities impacted by violence and crime. The causes of racial disparities are complex, including reflecting broader structural inequalities this government has committed to tackling.

We collect more data on stop and search than ever before: the race of the person searched, what they were searched for, and how often objects were found, including force by force breakdowns. This data is published online, allowing local scrutiny groups, Police and Crime Commissioners and others to hold forces to account. Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) look at force level stop and search data, including as part of its assessments. And statutory codes of practice and body worn video hold officers to account when they make a stop and search request.

In March 2019, the Home Office announced it was piloting a change to the way Section 60 'suspicionless' searches were carried out and as part of this asked the College of Policing to update their Authorised Professional Practice document to cover how police can best engage with communities on use of stop and search. This work is ongoing and is due to be published shortly.

The UK has a proud tradition of policing by consent based on trust between the police and the communities they serve. The public rightly expect police officers to meet high standards of professional conduct and the vast majority of officers in England and Wales uphold their oaths to act with impartiality and integrity, often in very challenging circumstances. But we know the impact it can have on individuals and their families when an officer commits a serious breach of these standards. Where there is discriminatory treatment, this can erode the trust of whole communities in policing, undermining the very consent which allows officers to fight crime and keep us safe. A police service which is seen to tackle racism head-on, wherever it is found, is essential to building and maintaining the trust of all communities. This includes providing appropriate training for all officers and staff and ensuring the very highest professional standards are maintained throughout their careers.

The College of Policing, who set and maintain training standards for policing, published the Code of Ethics in 2014, which includes a set of principles for policing, including that all officers and staff should take active steps to oppose discrimination and make their decisions free from prejudice. This is a cornerstone of police training and development. The College’s foundation training for all those entering the service includes substantial coverage of police ethics and self-understanding, including the effects of personal conscious and unconscious bias. Initial training covers hate crimes, ethics and equalities, and policing without bias. Forces also provide local training and development at several different levels ranging from initial entry, leadership and ongoing development to reflect and reinforce organisational values.

Training for police investigators includes a specific focus on bias, policing fairly and the practical effects of these fundamentals on the investigation process. Training for those involved in public protection area includes methods to raise trainees’ self-awareness of their own views, stereotypes and biases and refers specifically to hate crimes. HMICFRS inspections regularly include an assessment of the training that officers and staff receive. Alongside work on training and professional development, this Government has put in place more measures to ensure that policing is subject to appropriate levels of transparency and accountability – with regular inspections of the way forces engage with communities, frequent publication of data on use of police powers and strengthening the police complaints system.

In addition, we recognise that in order to build the trust of all communities, the police workforce must better reflect today’s modern, diverse society. The police officer workforce is more diverse in terms of ethnicity and gender than ever before, but there is still much more to be done. Our drive to recruit 20,000 officers over the next three years gives us a significant opportunity to attract a wide range people into a career in policing and support the police to achieve this aim. We will continue to work closely with the College and all our policing partners to ensure that prejudice and discrimination of all kinds, including racism, are eliminated from policing.
Home Office

The Government has launched a consultation on ethnic disparities and inequality in the UK, and want to hear from members of the public. There are ten questions, and you can answer any or all of them.

One of the questions is: What could be done to enhance community relations and perceptions of the police?

You can find out more about the consultation and contribute here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/ethnic-disparities-and-inequality-in-the-uk-call-for-evidence/ethnic-disparities-and-inequality-in-the-uk-call-for-evidence

The closing date for responses is Monday 30 November 2020.

What is the Petitions Committee?

The Petitions Committee is a cross-party group of MPs that considers e-petitions submitted on Parliament’s petitions website and public (paper) petitions presented to the House of Commons. It is independent of the Government.

Find out more about the Committee: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/

Get real-time updates on the Committee's work by following them on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/HoCPetitions

Find out more about how petitions work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGEOraE08Jk&feature=youtu.be

These are ‘select committees’. Find out how Select Committees work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2RDuDs44c

On Tuesday 20 April, the Minister for Equalities Kemi Badenoch MP gave a statement to the House of Commons on the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities.

The statement follows the Government's publication of the report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

Watch the statement here: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/b586787a-eb7f-409b-b20e-9cb31d21ddd0?in=13:38:40

Read the transcript here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2021-04-20/debates/1502466F-D06B-402A-B7C0-03452FFB1DA9/CommissionOnRaceAndEthnicDisparities

Ministerial statements are a way for Ministers to bring an important matter to the attention of the House. Find out more about them here: https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/business/statements/

What did the report say about policing?

The Commission acknowledged concerns about unfair treatment of minorities in crime and policing, and considered what drives disparities and proposed ways of addressing them, with a focus on 4 areas:

• re-establishing mutual trust between communities and police service areas
• preventing harm and directing young people away from entering the criminal justice system
• encouraging affected ethnic minority groups to work with and support police services to improve outcomes for their local communities
• improving workforce diversity in a way that encourages those skills needed to better serve multi- racial and multi-ethnic communities

The Commission recommended improving training to provide police officers with practical skills to interact with communities, increasing legitimacy and accountability of stop and search through body-worn video, and bridging divides by creating partnerships between the police and communities.

Read the report's section on crime and policing here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities/crime-and-policing

What is the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities?

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) has been set up by the Government to review inequality in the UK, focusing on areas including poverty, education, employment, health and the criminal justice system. The Commission, which is independent of the Government, will look at outcomes for the whole population.

Find out more about the Commission here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities

On Friday 30 July the Home Affairs Committee (a group of MPs who scrutinise the work of the Home Office) published a report that looked at progress in tackling racial disparities in policing. The Committee took as its starting point the recommendations of the Macpherson report, published in 1999, which followed the failed police investigation into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Read the full report: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmhaff/139/13902.htm

The report calls for urgent action to tackle low levels of BME recruitment and retention, unjustified racial disparities in the use of stop and search and other police powers, and a worrying decline of confidence in the police among some BME communities.

Among its recommendations, the Committee has said:

• Taking action on increasing trust and confidence in policing in minority ethnic communities needs to become a priority for police forces and the Home Office.
• There should be a comprehensive review and overhaul of police training on racism, diversity and equality so that training in the future explicitly focuses on anti-racism.
• There needs to be a new strategy for policing hate crime online, including skills training and technology.
• The Government should agree minimum targets for the recruitment of BME officers with each constabulary in England and Wales reflecting the respective composition of its local population.
• There should be reforms to stop and search powers including: recording the ethnicity of those who are subject to road traffic stops, additional training for police officers and staff on communication, conflict management and de-escalation, and full use of body worn video, with internal reviews and external community oversight.
• The Home Secretary should establish and chair, under the aegis of the National Policing Board, a Race Equality Steering Group.

The Government will respond to the Committee's report in the coming weeks.

What is the Home Affairs Committee?

The Home Affairs Committee scrutinises the work of the Home Office and its associated public bodies. It examines government policy, spending and administration on behalf of the electorate and the House of Commons. It's a cross-party committee and is independent of the Government.

Find out more on their website: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/83/home-affairs-committee/

You can get updates on their work by following the Committee on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/CommonsHomeAffs

This is a ‘select committee’. Find out how Select Committees work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_2RDuDs44c