​Overview

Development and scrutiny of the plan

 

The Police Race Action Plan (‘the plan’) has been developed jointly by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing (‘the College’) with input from stakeholders, including the National Black Police Association (NBPA), the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board (ISOB) Chair, and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC).

 

Some of the activity in the plan is already underway. Over the next six months, there will be wider engagement with stakeholders and communities to test and refine the actions. At the same time, the ISOB, chaired by Barrister Abimbola Johnson, will scrutinise the plan and the approach to delivery. Work will also be undertaken to determine timeframes for delivery of the actions.

 

As a result of this engagement, there will be scrutiny and further scoping of how and when actions will be delivered. An updated iteration of this plan will be published in December 2022 that contains further delivery detail.

 

We have taken into account the recently published Inclusive Britain report, the government’s response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED).

 

We have also considered the recommendations in the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) National Stop and Search Learning Report 2022.

 

In developing the plan, we have referred to a clear evidence base in the information that is publicly available on GOV.UK’s Ethnicity facts and figures webpage. This data has been used throughout this document and forms our evidence base for action to be taken.

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The case for change

Our vision is for a police service that is anti-racist and trusted by Black people

 

The legitimacy and effectiveness of UK policing is built on relationships between the police and the public, but there are longstanding challenges in our relationship with Black communities. Without the trust and confidence of Black communities, policing is less effective at protecting all communities.

 

Although much has been done over the years to tackle racism, discrimination and bias in policing, change has not been fast enough nor significant enough.

 

Black people are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people and five times more likely to be subjected to the use of force.1 Testimonies tell us that Black people find these encounters – particularly stop and search – confrontational, stigmatising and humiliating.

2 Negative disparities also extend into the policing workforce itself. Although the service is more diverse than ever, Black people continue to be significantly under-represented. Black officers and staff are more likely to have routine performance management issues escalated into formal disciplinary proceedings and are less likely to progress through the ranks than their White counterparts.

 

There are also accounts from whistle-blowers of experiencing victimisation after calling out racism and discrimination. There is a trust deficit in the police among some Black communities – for example, confidence in the police is 20% lower in the Black Caribbean​​ group than the national average.3 These historically low levels of trust in policing by Black communities risk undermining policing’s Peelian mission of policing by consent.

 

The government’s recent Beating Crime Plan sets clear expectations on policing to improve its performance in tackling the crimes that matter most to the public, as well as improving its service to victims. This cannot be achieved when sections of society, often those experiencing the highest levels of crime, are not engaged in the work of the service.

 

The aim of the plan is to give officers the tools they need to build trust and confidence with Black communities, so that they are better equipped to challenge racism and to identify and address any ingrained cultural biases that may be fuelling racial disparities across policing.

 

It is not the aim of the plan to characterise all officers as racist or to suggest that the entire system is broken. The vast majority of police officers are not racist, and racism is prohibited and repudiated in the rules and codes of practice that underpin policing.

 

Focus on Black communities and people

 

Policing recognises that the racial disparities affecting Black people are most acute and the trust deficit presents a significant challenge to police legitimacy and effectiveness. This plan, therefore, focuses on improving policing for Black people.

 

When we say Black people, we mean Black African, Black British, Black Caribbean, Black Other and Mixed Black backgrounds.

 

​Disparities also exist in policing’s relationships with other ethnic minorities, including the UK’s Asian communities and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities. We do not intend to minimise these issues. The plan is in addition to ongoing efforts to ensure that policing is inclusive and fair to all, and that concerns from minority or under-represented groups are acted on.

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Evidence shows that disparities are the widest among Black people.

 

Black people have significantly lower than average rates of confidence in their police force, at 64% compared with an average of 74%. Among Black Caribbean people, the rate is just 54%. Asian people, meanwhile, have higher than average rates of confidence in their police force, at 77%.4

 

While there is disparity in the rates of stop and search among other ethnic minorities, these rates are at a much lower level than with Black people. The stop and search rates are: – Black people, 54 per 1,000 – Asian people, 15 per 1,000 – White people, six per 1,0005

 

Black men are over three times as likely to be arrested than White men, with 60 arrests per 1,000 Black men, compared with 17 for every 1,000 White men.

 

In the three years to the year ending March 2021, the average homicide rate for Black people was around six times higher than for White people and almost four times higher than victims of other ethnicities.6 Other ethnic minorities are more likely to consider a career in policing: 4.8% of recent recruits from 2020 are Asian, compared with 1.5% who are Black.

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Our vision Our vision is for a police service that is anti-racist and trusted by Black people The plan seeks to create an anti-racist culture, values and behaviours within policing. This will inform all operational policing practice, improving the experience and outcomes for Black people. It will enable the experiences of our Black communities, officers and staff to have a direct influence on our policies and practices going forward.​

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