Have your say on the national Police Race Action Plan
The Police Race Action Plan sets out the changes the Police intend to make to improve outcomes for Black people working in or interacting with policing across the UK.
We are keen to ensure that people in Warwickshire have opportunity to provide feedback on the national plan. We particularly want to engage with Black people and people with a mixed Black heritage. Please share with your networks.
You can get involved in two ways:
Complete a feedback survey here about the plan (until 28 August 2022);
Join an online community engagement event with representatives from Warwickshire Police, hosted by Warwickshire charity EQuIP where we will explain more about the plan and discuss your views. Discusssions will be led by Superintendent of Local Policing, Emma Bastone, Director of Enabling Services, Tania Coppola and chaired by EQuIP Chief Executive, Junaid Hussain.
The event will be held on 18 August 2022, 18:00 – 19:30. To register for a place at this onlne event, please go to Eventbrite
We will feed views from the community engagement event back to the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing to inform future versions of the plan.
What does the plan intend to do?
The plan commits to zero-tolerance of racism in policing by:
- adopting an ‘explain or reform’ approach to address the negative impact and outcomes experienced by Black people;
- ensuring officers and staff understand the history of policing Black people and the ongoing impact and trauma of disproportionality
- the development of a representative workforce.
- increasing the involvement of Black communities in its work and improve support to Black victims of crime.
These commitments will be delivered through four areas of work:
1. Black people and communities are properly represented within policing, with an internal culture that promotes inclusivity and supports their development and progression.
2. Black people and communities are respected and treated in a fair and equitable way.
3. Black people and communities are routinely involved in the governance of policing.
4. Black people are protected and properly supported as victims of crime and as vulnerable groups.
Background
The action plan is policing’s response to events in the UK that have highlighted longstanding issues of racial inequality within policing, including:
- some policing powers, such as stop and search and use of force, are disproportionately applied to Black people – the latest national data shows that Black people are almost nine times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people and the rate at which we used force was five times higher for people we perceived to be Black (information specific to Warwickshire Police is available on the force’s website)
- policing lags behind almost every part of the public service as an employer of choice for Black people – just 1.3% of police officers are Black compared to 3.5% of the wider population, and in policing's history, only two Black officers have reached the rank of chief constable or assistant commissioner
- the relationship between policing and Black communities has been damaged (Stephen Lawrence’s murder in London in 1993 and the 1998 Stephen Lawrence Inquiry by Sir William Macpherson were watershed moments in facing up to racism in policing and the IOPC Operation Hotton report shows the reality that racism still exists in policing).
You can see the full draft plan and a summary online. Plus we’ll give an outline at the event.
