Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

White police sue for racism

serious | 23.08.2004 21:35

The Morris inquiry has uncovered a bitter undercurrent of resistance to change in anonymous interviews with police officers, one of whom complained that 'if you are from a [visible ethnic minority] whatever you want, you can have.'

White police claim racism

· Force faces wave of lawsuits
· Met 'favouring' black officers

Gaby Hinsliff, chief political correspondent
Sunday August 22, 2004
The Observer

Record numbers of white police officers are launching legal actions claiming they have been victimised because of the colour of their skin, The Observer can reveal today.
This reflects an alarming backlash against the Metropolitan Police crusade to encourage ethnic minority recruits, with resentful whites now convinced they are the ones being overlooked for promotion.

Yesterday Ray Powell, the president of the National Black Police Association, warned that moves to end the culture of casual prejudice were backfiring.

Attacking 'a ridiculous' pressure to hit strict targets for recruiting black officers, Powell told The Observer there was a risk of undeserving candidates being hired to boost the force's record on race.

Around half of the long-running race cases being taken to employment tribunals by Met officers now involve white complainants, according to evidence submitted to the Morris inquiry, which is examining the force's treatment of its staff.

The inquiry has uncovered a bitter undercurrent of resistance to change in anonymous interviews with officers, one of whom complained that 'if you are from a [visible ethnic minority] whatever you want, you can have.'

The Met has been under intense pressure to hire more black officers since the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, which concluded the force was 'institutionally racist'.

It has a target for 25 per cent of the force to come from the ethnic minorities by 2009, so that it reflects London's population as a whole.

He would rather see targets reduced and black recruits rising through the ranks on merit, than allowing substandard applicants to be taken on: 'There is a danger of black officers being set up to fail: human nature being as it is, there is a risk that the standards may be lowered.

'I would rather see work on a sustainable environment first of all for black officers within the police, as opposed to carte blanche recruiting people into an environment where they won't be able to be sustained.'

The process of change had been mishandled, with ordinary officers confused and suspicious about the Met's tactics of 'so-called positive action' policies stopping short of deliberately favouring black candidates, but seeking to encourage recruits by combating racism in the ranks, the black police leader said.

'If you were to ask anybody in the police service what positive action is, they don't have a clue: therefore they interpret it as action against them.

'They feel "we have got these black officers getting everything, and apparently getting a leg up" when in fact they are not.'

The warning is borne out by evidence to the Morris inquiry, which is now considering its verdict after six months of hearing testimony from more than 50 witnesses.

Led by Bill Morris, the former Transport and General Workers' Union leader, it has received a string of complaints of black officers being victimised for trivial offences, such as appearing on parade in a short-sleeved shirt instead of a long-sleeved one.

Women officers told of a macho 'lads and dads' culture that forced them to watch porn during breaks, refused them permission to work part-time or have shifts to fit around childcare and even barred them from expressing breast milk at work.

Anonymous interviews conducted on visits to London police stations exposed the hidden resentment among white officers. One complained: 'The perception is that black officers are only getting a promotion because they are black'. Others urged the Met to 'slow [its reforms] down a bit and look at white officers. They are forgotten.'

The problem is not confined to the Met, according to the Nottinghamshire branch of the Black Police Association, which told the inquiry that the promotion of one local Asian sergeant prompted six white rivals to sue for racial discrimination.

Jan Berry, chair of the Police Federation, reported complaints from white officers in Greater Manchester about the handling of disciplinary proceedings following a BBC undercover documentary, which filmed a recruit at a training centre wearing a Ku Klux Klan-style outfit.

Esme Crowther, head of the Met's employment tribunal unit, told Morris that seven out of 15 race cases of more than two years' duration now involve white officers claiming to have been victimised. Most objected to being disciplined when they claimed visible ethnic minority officers had not been.

The inquiry was set up by the Metropolitan Police Authority following the cases of Sergeant Gurpal Virdi - sacked for allegedly sending himself hate mail, but reinstated after a tribunal hearing - and Superintendent Ali Dizaei, paid £80,000 compensation by the Met after accusations against him were dropped after four years and an investigating costing £7m.

Both cases risked seriously damaging nationwide efforts to recruit black officers, with some chief constables now calling for black candidates to be 'fast tracked' through the system in an effort to hit their targets - the sort of positive discrimination Powell feels is counterproductive.

Morris is understood to be considering a range of potential measures, including an independent ombudsman for internal police discipline, and case managers to speed up the handling of complaints. Officers can be now suspended for years on end as investigations grind on.

serious

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech