Policing, Race and Racism (Policing and Society)
The main reason why police forces needed a supportive network within the force was that ethnic minorities could not talk to each other because they were suspected of plotting. We tended not to talk to each other because we thought if we are seen talking to each other as ethnic minorities, the white majority might wonder what we were planning. This sort of validates the networking of ethnic minorities for the first time that it is ok to get together.
As a result of these exercises many young people from minority communities talked about their desire to join the force. Why would you want to associate with them you know that sort of thing. Muslim Police Constables were reserved about the Association. What if white officers join the association?
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What about neutral names for it, as things have moved forward now? There is a misunderstanding about that. Problems encountered by ethnic minority officers do not concern only black officers but also Asian officers and all other ethnic minority officers. The introduction of targets had its advantages but also put pressure on some police forces which had difficulties in recruiting minority ethnics. As a result, some of them used illegal methods, like positive discrimination, in order to meet targets at the peril of maintaining standards within the force and relations between officers within the force.
Indeed, the Race Relations Act 21 makes it unlawful for a person to discriminate on racial grounds against another in any circumstances. The same national target for every force would simply have created difficulties for some forces in rural areas where there were few black and Asian people compared to forces in urban areas like London and Birmingham where different ethnic minority communities are concentrated.
In comparison to other sectors of employment, like the National Health Service or the London Transport for example, the police service remained a white male racist and sexist force. Indeed, the police service is in stark contrast to the other above mentioned employment sectors who have high percentages of ethnic minorities and women employees.
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In , the Thames Valley Police force had 2. On the one hand, the main advantage of targets was that success or failure for the recruitment of officers from minority ethnic backgrounds was clearly visible. The annual progress report made by forces in their local area was also used to influence locals into considering the police service and also hope to change their view of the police. As a result, forces were tempted to recruit ethnic minorities using illegal practices, such as positive discrimination, just to hit targets.
Though they used positive discrimination to recruit ethnic minorities, their intention could be purely founded on the promotion of diversity within their workforce. Candidates whose applications were turned down started to think they were being discriminated against because they were white. The question of positive discrimination in the UK was raised following these cases and the confusion between positive action, used by police service to promote equality of opportunity and diversity within the workforce, which is lawful under the Race Relations Act 26 , and positive discrimination.
It was not intended to give privileges to minority ethnics but to promote racial justice. The other person has been kept in a prison cell for five years and has been fed on bread and water you put both on the starting line and fire the gun.
Institutional racism still plagues policing, warns chief constable
Who is going to win? Now he can compete in the race on an equal basis. Now you have the race and may the best person win.
That bit to prepare you for the race is Positive Action […]. Nevertheless, positive action was frowned upon within the force. Indeed there was a growing perception that minority officers were given preferential treatment and arguments about the reduction in the standards of the quality of officers. If we look at some of the standards that we are getting in now, I am concerned that the standards have already started to be eroded.
We speak to people who are waiting to join the police. White people have to wait for a year and black people have to wait for a month.
It already creates a tension as they would meet each other at training and they would know they had to wait longer. But, negative perceptions could turn the public and other officers against minority officers and lead to underestimating their potential. If you can get into the police just because you are black and get promoted so where is the achievement in that?
And I know some people must say that about me I suspect. But when you are an ethnic minority that is always said behind your back I think. Though the percentage of minority ethnics was twice as high as in , it seemed that the Metropolitan Police had difficulties in recruiting candidates. In , there were 2. In the force had only 3. Firstly, the lack of role models in the force is a barrier to entry for black and minority ethnics. A vicious circle exists, whereby people do not apply unless they see a more diversity in the force but it will never be diverse unless people apply.
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In addition, many ethnic minority officers are leaving during the first two years of their probationary period, or early in their career if they do not get promoted. The reasons given are paradoxical. We find that ethnic minorities still feature more in what we call a regulation 15 procedures which is like performance issues which is during their probation period.
Ethnic minority officers are always on the regulation procedures. Sometimes people say the reason there are regulation procedures is because white managers need to be seen to be properly managing them. We need to keep them within the organization. This is despite promises made almost two decades ago after the Macpherson report into the failings that allowed the racist killers of the black schoolboy Stephen Lawrence escape justice.
Diversity in the British police : adapting to a multicultural society
Wilson said the police had made progress but that change had been too slow, and that the measures would help make forces look more like Britain. It is an issue the PM says she believes in but also plays into efforts by the Conservatives to win more ethnic minority votes to boost their electoral chances. It was a finding police fought at the time and some leaders have claimed no longer applies.
There is unconscious bias in the service. There is a significant link between inequality and victimisation and people who offend as well. By the time police get involved, there has usually been a failure in the system.
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Please log in from an authenticated institution or log into your member profile to access the email feature. The troubled relationship between the police and the black and minority ethnic population has a much longer history than any state or criminal justice agency would ever want to admit. The racially discriminatory behaviour of the police and the impact of this on their policing role and status of legitimacy was widely documented by criminologists Holdaway, ; Lambert, ; Smith and Gray, , whose studies highlighted the various ways in which the police, as individual CQ Press Your definitive resource for politics, policy and people.
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