In the summer of 2020 nations across the globe were rocked by the outpouring of emotion following the murder of George Floyd. It provided a catalyst for the expression of deep concerns about the social injustice experienced by Black communities. This anger and protest was seen here in the UK, including how Black communities are treated by policing.

Policing has a difficult history in its relationships with Black communities. The overt racism many of the Windrush generation experience included policing. The Scarman report, following the 1981 riots across England’s major cities, identified the harmful impact of policing on Black Britain. Stephen Lawrence’s murder in London in 1993 and the 1998 Stephen Lawrence Inquiry by Sir William Macpherson were a watershed moments in facing up to racism in policing.

Improvements have undoubtedly been made. But there is widespread acceptance across policing that progress has not gone far or fast enough. The Police Race Action Plan aims to put renewed focus on making this progress and delivering real change for Black communities as quickly as we can.

That need for change is evident. Policing lags behind almost every part of the public service as an employer of choice for Black people. Confidence levels are much lower, and our powers are disproportionately applied to Black people. In some crimes, victimisation rates are higher.

Black officers and staff leave policing earlier in their careers than white staff and the fact we have only seen a handful of Black officers reach chief constable or assistant commissioner rank in policing’s history is a failure.

We know that societal racism to Black people is much wider than policing. However, policing has a much higher obligation than any other public service, given its ability to deprive liberty and use the most intrusive powers. The collective trust of society is critical to a police service built upon consent.

This plan and the work that flows from it is more than just tackling individuals who damage policing by their overt racism or just the necessity to recruit more Black officers and staff. It is about looking at how policing works and challenging the policies, procedures, operations and cultures in policing where racism, bias and discrimination exist.

Put simply, if we get this right, policing will be better and become much more operationally effective.

We want Black victims of domestic abuse to be confident in coming forward. We want Black boys and girls subject to exploitation to be confident in coming forward. We want Black communities to look at policing and feel that we are
representative of their community, we ‘get it’ and we understand their concerns.

Sadly, for too many people at the moment, this is not the case. We are determined to change that.

The plan is broken down into four key areas, known as workstreams.

• Not under-protected - a police service that protects Black people from crime and seeks justice for Black victims.
• Not over-policed - a police service that is fair, respectful, and equitable in its actions towards Black people.
• Involved - a police service that routinely involves Black people in its governance.
• Represented - a police service that is representative of Black people and supports its Black officers, staff and volunteers.

The plan has achieved a considerable amount since launching in May 2022.

This includes holding conversations with thousands of people about the plan, its work, what we want to achieve and how we can best do it.

A public survey received more than 5,000 responses, of which 10 per cent were from Black, Black British or mixed Black heritage respondents.

A separate survey has gleaned feedback from more than 1,600 Black officers and staff currently working in policing, to get their invaluable views on our culture and what steps we can take to make policing more inclusive.

Our Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board (ISOB) has been established to oversee and scrutinise our work, holding our delivery of the plan to account and making recommendations and suggestions on the best ways for the plan to move forward.

A Community Reference Group has also been set up, with a network of independent people across the country coming together to advise and guide the plan and ensure what it is doing has the best chance of achieving community buy-in.

Acknowledging policing’s poor past experience and interaction with Black communities is a key part of our plan. We have made bespoke materials for forces to help them educate their staff about Black history and especially the history of the Black community with the police, while a Black Heritage Advisory Group has been set up with the College of Policing to advise on its processes and practices.

Changes have already been delivered to the way policing does its work. This is particularly true around data and ensuring ethnicity is recorded in areas it was not done previously.

The ethnicity of those subject to traffic stops is now recorded by most UK police forces. This was a key recommendation of the Macpherson report following the death of Stephen Lawrence.

The plan commissioned independent research into the use of taser by police officers and has subsequently put in place actions to address disproportionality in how these powers are used.

Similar work is underway to ensure the ethnicity of missing people is recorded more effectively and consistently.

One of the key actions in the Police Race Action Plan is to adopt an ‘understand any disparity, seek to explain it or build a case for potential reform’ approach to race disparities and develop a new national approach to help forces tackle race disparities in their use of powers, including stop and search.  

We anticipate this is likely to include some changes in training. This will be supported by strengthened governance and oversight of the use of police powers at a national and local force level, including effective supervision and community scrutiny of police data and body-worn video (BWV) footage of police interaction with Black people. 

This year forces will be publishing their ethnicity pay gaps for the first time, and put action plans in place to address gaps in pay.

Many Chief Constables are now being mentored by mentors from the Black community, while we are piloting a bespoke mentoring programme between forces for officers and staff from Black backgrounds.

The plan has also sparked a conversation about institutional racism in policing. Several chief constables, including National Police Chiefs’ Council Chair Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, have said they believe policing is institutionally racist.

While it is for individual Chief Constables to make their own assessment, there is a growing number of the most senior police officers acknowledging that discrimination and bias still exists in policing – and that we must all work together to stamp it out.

A number of forces have been identified across policing to test out some key new projects and initiatives envisaged by the plan, ahead of potentially rolling these initiatives out more widely.

This is all without mentioning the work being done to tackle racism and discrimination by individual forces. Great work is going on around the country to speak with Black communities and bring in reform to local forces, and one of our central team’s key roles is to look at all this great work and effectively share it with forces around the country.

T/Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dr Alison Heydari is the appointed Programme Director for the Police Race Action Plan. The role of the Programme Director is to lead the direction of the plan, working with communities, the NPCC, national portfolio leads (including Stop and Search), College of Policing, Chief Constables and police officers and staff.

Dr Heydari’s policing career began in 2000 with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary as a student officer. She was enrolled onto the Home Office Accelerated Promotion Scheme for Graduates, seeing her promoted to Sergeant with just over two years of service. 

Alison has a 22-year track record in driving change in equality, diversity and inclusion. She has also worked in a wide range of specialist roles, including: public protection; criminal investigations; hate crime; human trafficking, and child abuse. Her operational experience has been complemented by secondments to His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and teaching at John Jay College of Criminal Justice New York.

Alison is also a trained Negotiator, and a Public Order and Public Safety Gold Commander. 

Alison joined the Metropolitan Police Service in June 2020, serving as a Frontline Policing Commander, with additional responsibility for a number of portfolios including as lead for neighbourhood policing. Her passion for the implementation of procedural justice is reflected in her commentaries, published papers and research.

Alison was appointed as Programme Director in September 2023. Her priority will be focusing on what will build trust, confidence and legitimacy, including:

• A comprehensive community strategy and delivery plan.
• Ensuring meaningful engagement with stakeholders.
• Prioritising activity which will make the biggest positive difference to Black communities.
• Ensuring those carrying out this vital work have the necessary resources to do it well.

We will publish a progress report about the plan and its progress this summer, ahead of publishing a reiteration of the plan which outlines its long term future in the autumn.