by Ex-Superintendent Victor Olisa
POLICING
by consent is the foundation on which a ‘service’ style of
policing dominates over an ‘enforcement’ style. In the United
Kingdom, the police are praised around the world for its service
style of policing. Yet evolving changes in the language and style of
UK policing are shifting that style towards more ‘enforcement’
than ‘service’ for Black people.
The
heart-wrenching images of the killing of George Floyd on 25th
May 2020 in Minneapolis, United States of America, has become a
powerful driver for change in the way Black people are treated by the
police around the world. In the UK, some people console themselves
that such a barbaric act would not happen here because of the checks
and balances in place to prevent that level of police misbehaviour,
such as inspections by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary
Fire & Rescue Services.
However,
the words ‘police culture’, often evokes negative mental images
of police misbehaviour and indiscipline. The criminologist Robert
Reiner argues that the ‘core’ characteristics of police culture,
such as ‘mission’ and ‘action’, engender in officers the
belief that policing is not just a job but a way of life. It is the
reason why officers rush towards danger when others run away.
The
Canadian criminologist John Lee described a characteristic of police
culture that he termed police ‘property’. He explained that
“modern police forces emerged out of the need to protect dominant
communities from dangerous classes” and as a consequence police
soon learned to distinguish the ‘public’ they were supposed to
serve and protect and the ‘public’ they were supposed to control
and punish (i.e. blacks, women, Indians, and others)”. Police
‘property’ are “low status, powerless groups whom the dominant
majority see as problematic or distasteful and are prepared to let
the police deal with their ‘property’ and turn a blind eye to the
way this is done.”
Today,
the concept has become a powerful reality in the wake of the killing
of George Floyd, because of the callous way it was done by the
officer: hands in his pocket as he surveyed all around him in
triumphant nonchalance.
As
a police officer for 35 years who has worked in forces in the UK and
with police organisations across the world in my experience the
majority of officers are professional and committed people who uphold
the ideals of public service.
So,
the question is, how has such a powerful and respected social
institution allowed some of its officers to police with unimaginable
brutality, and engage in irrational activity?
In
the sense of irrational activity, the misuse of ‘stop and search’
exemplifies the notion of police ‘property’
The
negative impact of stop and search has been well documented, for
example, the conclusion of a 2013 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of
Constabulary inspection on stop and search states:
“…with
a few exceptions, forces were not able to demonstrate an approach to
using stop and search powers that was based upon a foundation of
evidence of what works best to fight crime…”
Today
there is a growing practice (as often posted on social media and
according to anecdotal information I hear from accounts of police
training) of officers handcuffing young Black boys who have not been
arrested and are not resisting or showing any signs of aggression,
before they start searching them. This happens whilst white friends
that are with them are searched without being handcuffed.
This
is a worrying development of a practice that seem to reinforce the
stereotype that conflates Blackness with dangerousness: Black boys
are considered ‘dangerous’ and so have to be treated differently
(restrained), and in a way that is humiliating and degrading, without
a rational justification. Black boys are treated as police ‘property’
whilst their white friends that are with them are treated very
differently, with courtesy and respect.
An
often-articulated statement by police officers is that people from
BAME background do not want to join the police. True, not all BAME
people want to join the police but enough do. My plea to senior
officers is work to reduce the rate of attrition for those that do
join: For example, Home
Office data
(March 2019) suggests that 23% of recruits to MPS were people from
BAME backgrounds, so joining at a higher rate BUT the same document
shows that voluntary resignation is 26% BAME and 17% white officers.
Additionally, 2.6% of BAME officers are dismissed compared to 1.2%
white officers.
The
journey for many Black officers (in my experience the BAME category
fair better collectively) is comparable to them running a 400 metres
stable chase alongside their white colleagues who are running a 4x1
400 metres sprint relay. Consequently, Black officers never realise
their potential, because the hurdles they must overcome grinds them
down and saps away their energy.
When
Government take an active role to understand the reasons why Black
people face structural racism by public bodies, they would receive
confidence in their commitment by not appointing a lead for a
commission who is on record doubting the existence of institutional
racism.
Whatever
our colour, race or social standing, society needs the police. If we
are genuinely going to address racism and its destructive effects,
every one of us need to look at ourselves and ask:
What
do I need to do to take Black people off the list of police
‘property’?
-
The answer is to stop stereotyping Black people as low status, unintelligent, aggressive, dangerous, self-destructive, and sub-human, and recognise the privilege and comfort that comes from remaining ‘silent’.
Every
senior police leader advocating for change must make a commitment to
empty the police ‘property’ list so that Black people and others
subject by the majority to negative stereotyping as ‘low status’
are not treated contemptuous and with excessive force and they don’t
end up as a death in custody.
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