The Metropolitan Police has systemic racism embedded into its structure, according to a new report released last Friday.
Conducted by HR Rewired and led by Dr. Shereen Daniel, the report, titled “30 Patterns of Harm,” analyzed over 40 years of research regarding the Met’s treatment of Black officers and staff as well as Black communities overall. Per their findings, the police system tended to label Black officers with darker skin color as “confrontational,” while lighter-skinned officers were treated with more leniency.
Black community members were also more likely to be treated as if they were suspicious or aggressive, with “force” more easily used. Meanwhile, Black children were more likely to be viewed as adult,s with their vulnerability being downplayed and actions treated more like criminals. People with certain accents were also discriminated against.
According to Dr. Daniels, the purpose of the report was to inspire change within the Met’s system itself.
“Anti-Blackness is the clearest indicator of organisational dysfunction. The same systems that sustain racial harm against Black people also enable other forms of harm,” said Dr. Daniels per Reuters. “Confronting this is not an act of exclusion but a necessary foundation for safety, fairness and justice for everyone.”
The latest report comes a month after five Met officers were fired for gross misconduct, mocking rape victims, making racist remarks as well as using brute force on a suspect while in custody. Similar disparaging remarks were made about other custody officers.
Other reports have also found that Met Police officers are more likely to use force on Black people. Per UK data, in the past 2 years, Black people have been stopped and searched four times more than white people have, averaging about 25 stops and frisks per every 1,000 people.
Overall, amongst the Metropolitan Police, the use of force was 3.7 times higher amongst Black people when it came to restraint tactics such as handcuffing, body restraints and ground restraints. Police were also more likely to draw weapons towards Black citizens. In general, the CED tactics were used 4.1 times more when Black people were involved than when white people were involved.
Following the release of the report on Friday, London’s police chief Mark Rowley appeared to support Dr. Daniels’ calls for change, although nothing was said about institutional racism..
“Dr Daniels’ report is powerful. It calls out that further systemic, structural, cultural change is needed … This cultural change will require relentless effort and innovation,” said Rowley in a public statement. “When it comes to any individual discrimination, including racism, our commitment is clear: we are continuing to deliver the largest corruption clear-out in British policing history to remove those who do not belong.”
