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Two years on from the publication of PRAP, we made the decision to ensure that our strategy, actions and priorities still matched those of our communities. We wanted to get out and speak to people across England and Wales about the work we are doing and get their views on the plan, its progress and the wider landscape in which we are operating.
Events were commissioned for communities across the country, as well as for interested stakeholders, while earlier this year we held the inaugural meeting of our National Community Reference Group, a collective of dozens of expert advisors who we will regularly consult with about different aspects of our plan moving forward.
Ensuring the voice of young people is heard has been a vitally important part of this process.
Seven projects were commissioned to seek the views of young people, from joint sessions with community groups in schools, colleges and universities around the country, hosting conversation sessions with our central team and young people through to a YouTube livestream discussion with the channel 90s Baby Show.
We also took a fresh look at some major research the PRAP previously commissioned as part of its work.
This is all in addition to the insight drawn from ongoing dialogue with police forces, our Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board (ISOB), the National Black Police Association (NBPA), as well as various other agencies and communities themselves.
There was considerable crossover in what different groups wanted. The exercise has reaffirmed what the PRAP is doing, and shifted our focus in certain areas too.
We are proud of where this work has taken us and want to thank each and every person who spoke to us or has contributed to this exercise. Your contributions have really made a difference, and we will be publishing regular progress reports moving forward to ensure people can keep up to date with what we are doing.
Thirteen consultation and engagement projects delivered, inclusing seven to seek the views of young people.
More than 800 people at in person events and projects, including more than 400 school, college and university students.
The consultation exercise has provided us with a clear picture of where people want to see policing focus in our work to improve our service for Black people. There is consistency in these priorities across different groups we have spoken to. There are lessons for us to learn from the exercise itself around the planning and execution of the whole process, which we will build into future engagement.
Community engagement was frequently identified as important. People want to see police officers and staff out in their communities, working alongside Black communities and rebuilding trust.
Strengthening local community engagement with Black communities was the action which received the highest percentage of support in a public survey delivered by one of our PRAP community partners. It was not just those outside policing who supported this though, with improved community engagement highlighted as a priority in the internal Our Black Workforce survey of Black officers and staff in policing.
A variety of suggestions were put forward for how policing might do this. Acknowledging, understanding and apologising for trauma caused to Black communities by the police was identified as especially important. Black communities said they want to be involved in holding senior police officers and staff to account on the delivery of the PRAP, as well as providing scrutiny on things like stop and search and body worn video. They also wanted our service to help educate communities on policing, the law and their rights, especially for young people.
There was mixed support for police officers in schools to help with community engagement. A schools officer in Cardiff was highlighted by students in one of our projects as a particularly inspirational story. However, some young people expressed concerns that officers in schools could be used as a method of discipline or stop young people from speaking up. Some young people said they preferred interacting with police officers when they were not in uniform.
Considerable scepticism towards the PRAP and whether policing can deliver the progress it needs to improve policing for Black communities was fed back. Negative perceptions were often based around stop and search, as well as police misconduct and racial profiling. We received specific feedback about the need for stop and search practice to be trauma informed. However, there was some recognition that most police officers do a good job, which is undermined by the minority who fail to meet the high standards communities deserve from the police.
Addressing the negative view of policing seen in the media and on social media was consistently raised. Communities both inside and outside policing want to see the PRAP deliver on tangible action, have clear data and targets to track our progress, put strong accountability in place and tell communities about the change we are delivering and the action we are taking to deliver change. They want PRAP leadership to be visible.
There was wide support for ensuring existing Black officers and staff have the support they need to progress their career, such as being offered mentoring. While there was a lot of support for encouraging more Black officers and staff into policing, there were some people who just wanted good police officers, regardless of their background.
Addressing the internal culture of policing, improving the reporting mechanisms for things like hate crime and racial discrimination and a greater focus on retention were also mentioned during the feedback exercise. While there was a lot of support inside and outside of policing for officers to be trained in subjects such as unconscious bias and cultural awareness, there was also scepticism about the effectiveness of this training and whether it would work. Ensuring training is delivered face to face, involves Black communities and takes into account the local context were all highlighted as examples of good practice.
People wanted to see better training for managers and supervisors, especially in how things like race related incidents are managed; more support for those who suffer or speak up about racism and discrimination, as well as greater awareness of and support for positive action schemes.
Addressing intersectionality, to ensure that Black people who come into contact with the police get a holistic view of their needs considered, as well as understanding the needs of Black victims and witnesses, was important across different communities, as was working with other groups and organisations to take a whole systems approach to tackling racism.
This is what communities told us they want from the PRAP, and we are determined to deliver.
Many of the key priorities identified during our consultation and engagement work reflect the areas already identified as priorities to deliver against by the plan. Reforms are being worked on to stop and search and other police stops.
We are looking at ways to address disproportionality in police misconduct and complaints processes. We will soon pilot new approaches to community engagement that are based on the principles of restorative justice, respond to community trauma and aim to rebuild the trust and confidence of Black communities.
Mentoring and peer to peer conversation programmes are a key focus for the plan over the coming months, while bespoke products have been created for every police force to help them deliver training around topics such as Black history and cultural competency.
However, this activity has made us rethink some of our actions in the short term. We have put a focus on intersectionality in two of our workstream areas, as well as a specific focus on retention of Black officers and staff in our internal culture and inclusivity workstream.
More widely, we are looking at longer term governance structures which could incorporate multiple agencies, to ensure a whole systems approach to tackling racism. We are working on engagement with chief officers through the plan, as well as adding the visibility of PRAP leadership and positive action as aspects to the plan’s communications strategy. We are also looking at a communications campaign to educate young people about stop and search and their rights.
This feedback is directly shaping the next phase of the PRAP. As well as the changes outlined, we have also incorporated feedback on community engagement and creating an inclusive working environment in the outcomes framework.
Detailed summaries of the consultation and engagement exercises are being fed into an internal provenance document, which is capturing a whole host of insight, analysis and feedback the plan has had since its inception. This provenance document will directly shape the plan’s future maturity matrix, a framework which will be used to assess forces and their journey to anti-racism over several years.
The publication of a data and performance framework was a clear priority across all communities, and will enable progress of the plan to be tracked over the longer term.