Leaders of police forces in the United Kingdom are considering “publicly admitting” that “institutional racism” exists within their forces.
Senior police in Britain are considering making a public announcement that their various forces are “institutionally racist”.
The possibility is being considered as part of a plan which will supposedly make policing in Britain “anti-racist”, with policing heads saying that the lower confidence in the police amongst black communities hurts their crime-fighting capability.
According to a report by The Guardian, the barrister in charge of the independent police oversight board scrutinising the proposed reforms, Abimbola Johnson, has claimed that the declaration is needed if promises of radical reforms are to be believed by so-called “BAME” — Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic — communities.
“The plan needs to accept institutional racism, if it is to be anti-racist,” Johnson said. “If the idea is to win the trust of black communities, policing needs to start by acknowledging both the historical and current manifestations of racism in policing.”
National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) vice-chairman Sir Dave Thompson said he was “very clear there will be institutional racism issues in policing.”
“There will also be systemic racism, structural racism and also racial disparities that are not due to racism in policing because we police an unequal society,” he suggested, adding and that a public admission of guilt was therefore receiving “careful thought”.
The comes as just the most recent example of anti-racist wokery within British policing.
Earlier this year, a police chief lamented the fact that her force’s leadership was white, announcing she wanted to “mitigate” the issue in the short term, and that there was “a very detailed plan” to deal with racial diversity in the long term.
“It’s not OK that we look like we do across UK policing and I know my colleagues and I are all determined to shift that,” the chief said.
Recruitment within British policing has also been affected, with one force being found to have illegally rejected an “exceptional” candidate for a policing job because he was a straight white male.
The Cheshire Police force was found to have fallaciously used so-called “positive action” legislation aimed at increasing employment prospects for those from “under-represented” groups to discriminate against the candidate.
“This is the first reported case of its kind in the UK where positive action has been used in a discriminatory way,” said one lawyer regarding the case. “Had he not been such an exceptional candidate he may not even have suspected anything was wrong and this unlawful and unacceptable selection process may have been allowed to continue.”
Another force, the British Transport Police, have also used so-called “positive action” legislation to bar white men from recruitment workshops.
“In line with our Positive Action initiative we are initially only offering this workshop to women and black/minority ethnic groups who are currently under-represented in the force,” a statement on the force’s website read.
How this institutional favouritism for ethnic minorities squares with claims that British policing is institutionally racist towards ethnic minorities is unclear.