POLICE cynicism and resistance to diversity could sabotage Scotland Yard’s drive to recruit more black, Asian and female officers, an independent inquiry said yesterday.
Five years after the Stephen Lawrence report castigated the police for institutional racism, ethnic officers face serious discrimination over disciplinary action, according to the inquiry.
The investigation, chaired by Sir Bill Morris, the former general secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, acknowledged Metropolitan Police reforms but concluded: “We were left with the concern there is no common understanding of diversity . . . and it is not embedded in the organisation”.
The report, published yesterday, said: “We fear it remains at worse a source of fear and anxiety and at best a process of ticking boxes.”
The report found that black and Asian officers suffered discrimination over their treatment in minor discipline cases because middle-ranking officers lacked the confidence to deal with them, fearing that they would be branded racists.
The officers, often sergeants and inspectors, ignored the problem or passed the responsibility to more senior ranks, often resulting in formal action, suspensions and proceedings.
As a result the inquiry found “clear disproportionality in the way black and minority ethnic officers are treated in relation to the management of their conduct”. The report also said that efforts to promote the message of diversity may be counter-productive and the force could be seeing the start of a backlash. White officers were going to employment tribunals arguing that they were being discriminated against because so much time and effort was spent on officers from ethnic minority backgrounds.
The report said that a backlash “would be catastrophic. The policy is right. It is the approach and the application which we believe needs to be reviewed.” Sir Bill, sitting with Sir Anthony Burden, former Chief Constable of South Wales, and Anesta Weekes, QC, who was counsel at the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, support the drive to make the Metropolitan Police more representative of all communities.
The inquiry was set up after the case of Superintendent Ali Dizaei, who was subjected to a £5 million investigation into allegations of corruption, cleared in two trials and reinstated with a reprimand last year.
The report is highly critical of the inquiry, saying it lacked direction and suggesting race played a part in the investigation. The inquiry wants to see a full review of the case. It also attacks the general operations of Scotland Yard’s anti-corruption department and discipline system, calling for an independent review of the whole unit.
The inquiry’s criticisms included a lack of control over investigations, overuse of suspensions and a lack of accountability when things go wrong. No senior officers are ever penalised for their mistakes.
The report attacks an “Al Capone model” of investigation and yesterday Sir Anthony said: “What was very worrying was that when a name comes into the frame the whole machinery looks to prove that individual’s guilt. It must be evidence-based.”
The remit of the inquiry included not only the Dizaei case and several other high-profile cases involving officers from minority backgrounds but also the general disciplinary system and working practices, which could widen implications for the whole police service. The report calls for the modern working practices to be adopted and end disciplinary systems “which have their roots in the courts martial system of the 19th century”.
In all the inquiry — set up at a cost of more than £400,000 — makes 37 important recommendations covering the future of diversity within the police, better working practices and a complete overhaul of an antiquated discipline system.
Sir Bill said: “We recognise that since the very tragic death of Stephen Lawrence, the Metropolitan Police Service has done much to improve operational policing within the community . . . but more needs to be done.”
The inquiry has written to the Commission for Racial Equality and the Independent Police Complaints Commission asking them to monitor the treatment of black and Asian officers. Commenting on the report, Sir Ian Blair, who becomes commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in February, said that the force has gone through a pretty torrid time in the past five years but he accepted that officers needed better training in handling discipline and diversity.
He said: “We do recognise that we have a way to go to build an organisation where everyone feels comfortable.”
He described the discipline and misconduct system for dealing with police officers as “irretrievably broken”. Asked about the backlash of promoting diversity, Sir Ian said that the major concern in the force was not race.
MAIN POINTS OF THE MORRIS REPORT
- Employment laws for police need modernising
- Creation of a new code of conduct for officers
- Creation of a flexible discipline system
- Concerns at diversity policies and implementation
- Need for new senior executive recruited from business to manage non-operational side of the force
- Commissioner review and overhaul of anti-corruption and discipline system
- Better and fairer treatment for officers under investigation
- Full review of the operation of the Ali Dizaei investigation
- Criticism of lack of accountability among senior officers and no penalties for mistakes
