Addressing the National Black Police Association's annual conference in York
Ladies and gentlemen
It’s a great pleasure to be here today. I know Keith Vaz would have liked to be here but on Tuesdays he chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee and he asked me to come in his place.
The aim of this conference is to discuss the experience of ethnic minorities within the justice system.
It is vital that members of all communities in this country understand and are confident that justice and policing is even-handed. Those who commit crimes will be treated in exactly the same way regardless of their ethnic, religious or social background.
The police provide the link between the population and the justice system and they must be trusted to behave impartially and to ‘accord equal respect to all people’ at all times. Sadly, there have been occasions where this ideal has not been met.
There have been, and sadly continue to be, instances of unacceptable behaviour by a small minority of police officers towards their colleagues and member of the public because of their ethnicity.
They create a sense of division and distrust in the canteen and out on the streets and in policing, more than any other job outside of the armed forces, it is vital that officers trust and respect each other.
So there is a place for an organisation which can challenge and tackle racism within the police service.
I have in the past questioned the validity of a Black Police Association.
A conversation which I had with a Gwent Police representative changed my thinking a little. He was about my age and had joined the service about 20 years ago in the eighties.
He described a number of incidents which he had suffered which were unacceptable. I do not believe he had exaggerated, because I remember being in the TA at the same time, the late eighties, and seeing similar examples of attitudes which were not acceptable then but today would be identified as such.
I came to the understanding that it is the aim of the BPA to tackle racism within the police forces where it exists and to ensure that the views of ethnic minority officers are fully empathised with.
If this is so, then it is a praiseworthy aim which is fully supported by myself and all members of the Home Affairs Select Committee.
Moving forward 20 years, the climate in this country is radically different and that is not just my opinion but the opinion of long standing black and Asian officers with whom I have spoken. But problems still occur.
At the London station in which I work as a Special Constable, a full investigation is currently being carried out after racist graffiti was placed on the locker of two Asian officers. Actions like this cause shame and embarrassment to every decent officer who values their fellow officers.
We tend to assume that the only people affected by racist incidents within a police station are the direct victims, but in actual fact there can be an impact on the morale of all officers.
If one ethnic group appear to be victimised by another ethnic group, immediately a sense of awkwardness and distrust can be created.
We all know that trust is vital in this job. If one officer is in trouble, he or she needs to know that help will come fast regardless of who that officer is. If that trust between officers ever begins to break down, then policing will break down with it.
The remit of the BPA should be about more than just combating discrimination. It should be about building trust and mutual respect between members of all races and religion within the force, which would go a long way towards tackling the wider causes of racist incidents.
But outside of this conference room there is a perception amongst many politicians and police officers that whilst the BPA has been vocal in highlighting instances of racism, it has not always been as positive in building that sense of trust which will be required to deal with it.
To me it is a shame that full membership of the BPA is open only to those of black, Asian or middle eastern origin.
Tackling racism and unfair treatment of ethnic minorities is something which is taken seriously by members of every race in the police force and yet the clear implication of such a policy is that white people do not share this concern.
It would be argued that this policy is explicitly racist in that it bars white people, and implicitly racist in suggesting that white people care less about racism than people of black, Middle Eastern, Asian or African origin.
I have spoken to many BPA members over the last few years and all of them were decent reasonable people who had genuine concerns. I don’t believe that they want to be thought of as being part of the impression they wish to give. And yet sadly it is the case that many white officers do not trust the BPA, not least because it is an organisation which denies them membership.
The membership policy which would be unacceptable and probably illegal in virtually any other organisation in this country and I think it is important that the BPA thinks carefully about how it is seen by others.
We know how important it is not to create stereotypes or to generalise about races. We know about the importance of stressing positives. I think it would be much appreciated if occasionally, as well as drawing attention to example of racist behaviour by a small minority of white officers, which is perfectly appropriate, the BPA acknowledged that a large majority of white officers are doing everything they can to tackle racism and that it an least one instance, an employment tribunal has found that white officers were discriminated against.
And that brings me to its role in taking cases to tribunals. The Commission for Racial Equality used to have a similar remit. However, it would try to establish the veracity of claims being made by the applicant before taking matters to the courts.
It is human nature that if we are denied a promotion we find it easier to convince ourselves and others that their race, religion, sex or sexual orientation was to blame rather than their abilities.
I sit on the backbenches and watch my colleagues, Shadow Ministers, some of them younger than me, and I wonder how my talents could possibly have been overlooked for so long!
It could be my big mouth and habit of saying what I think, which is never a good idea on the floor of the House of Commons or on the beat. It’s because I’m Welsh. It’s because I went to a Comprehensive School. It’s because I don’t have a degree.
It might just be because I don’t have the ability or experience, but that’s rather hard to admit to myself.
An organisation which brings forward unfounded or vexatious claims risks its own reputation and its ability to help people who genuinely need it.
An important difference between the CRE and the BPW was its willingness to take on cases brought about by white people, as it recognised that racism can occur within any ethnic group and any ethnic group can be a victim.
The Met were recently found in a tribunal to have discriminated against two white officers and more claims are now in the pipeline. It is perhaps a shame that the BPA is not willing to address this and make clear that its remit is to end all forms of racism in the police and not to act and not to speak up for every ethnic group bar one.
Finally as a result of the decision to actively discourage members of ethnic minorities from joining the Met, the BPA has become the only publicly funded organisation to say that the police should be for whites only.
Whatever the intention, the logical outcome of this policy is that a body which should be building trust between communities, and which is publicly funded, is saying that the police force should be for whites only. That cannot be acceptable.
Mr Chairman, as a politician I want to see more black and Asian officers because I know that in a nation which believes in policing by consent, as a police officer of limited experience, I know that some of the black and Asian officers I have worked with have been of the most exceptional standard.
A few weeks ago I was on a routine patrol when a man approached me and announced that he had tried to stab his wife to death.
My colleague, a man much younger than me, immediately got control of the situation and as a result a suspect was charged with attempted murder. There is much more to the story than that, but I cannot tell it at the moment.
What I can tell you is that although my colleague was Asian, I didn’t see that or think about it until I prepared my words today. What I saw was a damn good police officer, a credit to his force and the community he serves.
What we should be agreed on is that officers of his calibre should always be welcome in the police whatever their ethnic or religious background and it is surely the role of the BPA to help bring this about by actively encouraging recruits from coning forward and by ensuing that their talents are recognised when they pass out.
More than that, the BPA could do much to raise and examine the problems which undeniably exist amongst a minority in some communities.
And lastly, the BPA could be working to build the trust between officers of all races and religions and to ensure that the respect that we have for each other exists between officers and citizens on the streets. That trust can only be built by including all races and by reminding all members that the vast majority of white officers are as actively opposed to racism as black and Asian officers.
What I am suggesting would mean a lot of hard work and a fair amount of diplomacy. It would mean the BPA challenging itself, but it is an organisation which contains remarkable people who could rise to any challenge. I hope that they do so.