POLICE commanders fear that they will be accused of racism if they criticise black or Asian officers, according to Britain’s senior operational officer.

Sir John Stevens, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said yesterday that minor incidents involving ethnic minority officers that could be dealt with informally were either passed on to the disciplinary procedure or ignored. Middle-ranking officers were especially nervous about dealing with issues concerning ethnic minority staff and officers after the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, which accused the Met Police of being institutionally racist.

He was speaking yesterday at the start of an inquiry into the grievance and discipline machinery in his force. Chaired by Sir Bill Morris, the former general-secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, the inquiry was ordered after the collapse last year of a £4 million Scotland Yard prosecution of Superintendent Ali Dizaei. He had faced corruption charges.

Sir John said that the reluctance to deal with minor infringements by black or Asian officers with “tough love”, such as an informal reprimand, meant that such failings could continue unchecked and might prevent their promotion or move to specialist units. If action was taken against an officer, it often took the form of commanders dodging responsibility and protecting their own positions by passing on the allegations to a lengthy discipline and grievance system.

Sir John said that officers were conscious of the findings of the highly critical report by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny into the way the police investigated the murder of Stephen Lawrence, 18, the black student stabbed in South London in 1993. The report highlighted an improverished investigation.

Yesterday, Sir John said that he believed it was time for the complaints and discipline system to be totally reformed. He said that no one could justify the length of time that it took to deal with offences that were sometimes minor.

“With minor exceptions, ordinary employment law should be applicable to police officers. This would lead to a less adversarial approach to disciplinary proceedings and enable the police to rid itself quickly and cleanly of those officers we have reasonable grounds to believe are guilty of serious misconduct.”

Sir John said that the system had become “draconian and ancient” and operated like a courts martial system that was no longer appropriate for modern policing. Officers had waited six or seven years for their cases to be heard. Older officers occasionally retired while the process ground on, leaving younger officers to face punishment.

Sir John also attacked the Director of Public Prosecutions and lawyers in the Crown Prosecution Service for delays in deciding on prosecutions. “I was trained as a lawyer and have lectured in law and for the life of me I cannot understand why these decisions can’t be made more quickly,” he told the inquiry.

Sir John said that he would destroy the present system and the paperwork that dogged policing and start again. He suggested that the police should have contracts of employment like other workers and use an independent system such as Acas, the conciliation body, to deal with grievances.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• UK regional accents thrive against the odds
• ‘Scarecrow’ wind farms put rare birds to flight
• What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth