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Police in England and Wales to get anti-racism training

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Black people in the UK are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched compared with white people

Police officers in England and Wales will be given mandatory anti-racism training under a new plan to tackle racism, discrimination and bias.

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) wants to recruit more black officers and staff, and improve black people's confidence in the police.

Confidence levels are about 64% among black communities, compared with an average of 74%.

The NPCC says its Race Action Plan is not about "being woke".

Police in the UK have been under pressure to address racism since widescale protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, an unarmed African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis two years ago.

Black people in the UK are seven times more likely to be stopped and searched compared with white people, and five times more likely to be subjected to the use of force, according to Home Office figures from 2021.

It comes as London's Metropolitan Police is investigating the case of a 14-year-old girl who was "traumatised" by a strip-search by officers.

Launching the plan on Tuesday, Chief Constable Sir David Thompson said creating an anti-racist police service "must be a priority for us".

He said he knew the plan might be criticised "as being woke or politically correct policing" but said it is instead "about good policing".

Every officer in England and Wales will receive anti-racism training under the plan, which will will be put out for public scrutiny before it is updated in December.

'I have fear'

Giovanni, a member of the Voyage Youth Group in Hackney, east London, says he has been stopped and searched by police several times, despite never doing anything wrong.

The 17-year-old told BBC News: "For me personally, I have fear. When you see people acting up towards the police, it stems from fear."

Giovani and Malik from the Voyage youth group in Hackney, east London
Giovanni (left) says he feels fear about the police

Other new measures in the action plan include:

  • Thorough scrutiny of stop-and-search powers in local communities
  • Efforts to recruit and retain more black police officers
  • A review of specialist police school and education officers
  • Improvements to the way police respond to hate crime committed against black people, including online and on social media.

Some £2.5m will spent on the new plan, funded by a central team.

Andy George, President of the National Black Police Association. said: "We are hopeful that this action plan will begin the journey to healing decades of hurt, suspicion and mistrust.

"It must be more than a document that gives us an excuse to get things wrong and say we're sorry."

Emmanuelle Andrews, campaigns manager of human rights group Liberty, said the commitments made in the plan are "at complete odds" with recent announcements made by the government to create new stop-and-search powers.

"These are exactly the powers that disproportionately target and harass young black men," she said.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "It is clear more needs to be done in policing to ensure everyone is treated fairly and without prejudice, regardless of their race or background."