Political responses Flashcards
Brixton and Scarman 1981
Bowling and Phillips
• Scarman identified riots as an outburst of anger and resentment of young black people v the police
• The report concluded that the black community was ‘over policed . . . and under protected
• Scarman recommended efforts to recruit more ethmin officers, improving comm relations etc BUT obvs not helped
Delsol and Shiner
• Brixton riots and Scarman report
• Start of a strained relationship 80’s
• In the aftermath of these events, Lord Scarman was appointed to head a public inquiry into the causes of the Brixton disturbances and to make recommendations with the aim of preventing further disorder.
• Scarman criticised the heavy-handed approach to policing in Brixton and highlighted the role of operation ‘‘Swamp 81’’, which involved more than 120 officers patrolling the area with the instruction to stop and search anyone that looked ‘‘suspicious’’. Over 4 days, 943 people were stopped and 118 were arrested, more than half of whom were black (Bowling and Philips 2002)
• Scarman (1981: 45) concluded that the disturbances were ‘‘essentially an outburst of anger and resentment by young black people against the police’’
• In order to promote legitimacy Scarman made a range of recommendations which included identifying racial prejudice amongst recruits, improving the disciplinary process in cases of racially prejudiced behaviour by officers, recruiting more ethnic minority officers, increasing community consultation through statutory liaison committees, introducing an independent review of complaints against the police, and the introduction of lay visitors to police stations.
Lawrence and MacPherson 1999
Bowling and Phillips 2008
• It recommended improvements in the handling of racist incidents, first-aid training, family liaison and the handling of victims and witnesses. It also recommended improvements in training, recruitment and retention policies; handling discipline and complaints; and the regulation of stop and search powers.
• One area which may be taken as the litmus test of progress ‘post-Lawrence’ is in the use of stop and search powers. In the immediate aftermath of the publication of the Macpherson Report, levels of recorded stop and search fell from an all-time high in 1998 of around 1 million to around three quarters of a million in 2002. This reduction has many causes, but it was probably at least partly attributable to the criticism that the use of the power was frequently unlawful and unjustified. It was also argued by some police critics that officers were afraid of using the power against black people in case they were accused of racism.
• The Lawrence Inquiry was heralded as a watershed in race relations and it was undoubtedly significant in its recognition of institutional racism and the measures that were subsequently implemented to respond to it. Of these, the most important legislative change was the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 which applies the Race Relations Act 1976 to public authorities including the police, who had hitherto been exempt. In principle this represents a very significant step forward because it makes unlawful both direct and indirect discrimination in the provision of police services and in the use of coercive powers.
Delsol and Shiner 2006
- Following the macpherson report in 1999 the home office believe more to be done about raising confidence and trust
- his time the focus was not on disorder but on the racist murder of black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, in South London and the subsequent failure to bring his killers to justice. The resulting public inquiry – which began several years after the original incident and only after a change of government – focused on the flawed investigation into Stephen’s murder and on the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes more generally.
- The inquiry, chaired by Sir William Macpherson, found fundamental errors had marred the murder investigation resulting from ‘‘a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership by senior officers’’
- To this end he called for vigorous inspections, improved handing of racist incidents, changes to training in racism awareness and cultural diversity and improvements to employment, recruitment and retention policies and the handling of discipline and complaints. - majority accepted
- According to Reiner (2000) the Stephen Lawrence case illustrates important changes in the politics of policing
- The inquiry report was unambiguous in its condemnation of the disproportionate use of such powers against black and minority ethnic communities and in its dismissal of the rationalisations sometimes advanced by the police and academics alike
Political changes
Under the Police Reform Act 2002 (PRA 2002), a new body was established
called the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). This body replaced
the PCA in April 2004 and was created by the Home Office in response to numerous
calls from aggrieved members of the public and politicians alike. The IPCC enables
members of the public to complain about allegations of police misconduct, adverse
consequences through police misconduct, witnessed events of misconduct and for
members of organisations to complain on behalf of public citizens.
Removal of safeguards
Reiner 2010
• Crime and Disorder Act 1998 was new labour’s flagship legislation establishing crime reduction programme to fulfil pledge to be tough on crime and its causes - expanded police powers. Empowered chief officers to apply for ASBO’s and to make local child curfew orders.
• Terrorism act 2000 extended stop and search powers without the PACE’s reasonable suspicion requirement
• Criminal justice and police act 2001: penalty notice disorders (pnds) - tool for police to deal with crimes without evidence sufficient for a charge
• Also has been a continuing erosion of safeguards from PACE: including giving powers to search premises without warrant or with only a superintendent’s authorisation, extending detention time for any offence,
Today - MacPherson
Marking the anniversary today, the Prime Minister will say that the “institutional racism” finding – first made in the 1999 Macpherson report into the Lawrence killing and the police response – was part of a process of “monumental change” in society and posed profound questions both of government and the police. However, the Metropolitan Police’s Black Police Association (MBPA) used the occasion to claim that Britain’s largest force was still “institutionally racist”. A statement cited by The Guardian pointed to the disproportionate use of stop and search powers against the black community and the lack of advancement by senior ethnic minority officers as structural problems that remain. The national BPA said it was unacceptable that less than 5 per cent of officers in England and Wales were from ethnic minority backgrounds. And the Met branch called for more to be done by the leadership of the force to get rid of the problem. There are still too few black people in leading roles in Cameron's Britain. Politicians are fond of pointing out that there are now four times as many black and Asian MPs in the Commons now as they were in 1993. But that is still only halfway there at 28 or 4% of the 650 total number of MPs at a time when Britain's minority ethnic groups make up 9% of the population. While one British Asian woman does now sits around the Cabinet table every Tuesday, Parliament remains overwhelmingly the preserve of white, middle-class men. The British Future poll said that nearly 60% of the public believe the police response to such cases is now quicker, fairer and less racist. The police say that much has changed over the past decade and there is now a firm desire throughout policing, especially within its leadership, to tackle racism more robustly. Doreen Lawrence says that determination has yet to be shared by every constable on the beat.
Current changes/hopes
- All 43 police forces in England and Wales have agreed to adopt a new government code of conduct on the use of their powers to stop and search members of the public.
- Home Secretary Theresa May had said the technique was being misused so often that it was damaging relations between the public and police.
- Officers will need higher authorisation than at present to deploy Section 60 powers, under which someone may be stopped without grounds for suspicion in a situation where serious violence is anticipated.
- Police will also soon allow public observers to watch stop and search in operation
- This week the Liberal Democrats unveiled a proposal to force select groups of police officers to wear body cameras. The reform would be part of the party’s manifesto for next year’s general election.
- Over the past few months there have been increasing calls for police to use cameras. Officers in 10 London boroughs began trialling them in May, but long before that, in 2006, Devon and Cornwall police began using them. There have been claims of innumerable benefits: collecting impactful first accounts from domestic victims; saving costs by increasing early guilty pleas; speeding up court decisions; and cutting paperwork by recording as opposed to writing out statements.
- Primarily, though, the focus has been on encouraging better behaviour by both officers and members of the public in the hopes of improving the often difficult relationship between the two groups. A study by the Rialto police in Californiasaw the use of force drop by 60% after the cameras were introduced.
- Even if cameras resulted in more cordial encounters, it would not address the larger, problematic implementation of stop and search. If body-worn video is to address this there also needs to be a plan about how recordings may be used to train officers and address community priorities.
- Ultimately, the solution may involve equipping every police officer with a body-worn camera, but before we congratulate ourselves on such a technical answer we should better understand and address the social problems associated with stop and search. The rhetoric around body cameras is often only about proving innocence or guilt, but they must be used as part of larger efforts to improve policing practice.
U.S.
America has a problem with human-on-human violence – especially when one set of humans has more power than the other. Following the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and now Walter Scott, it’s time to look at how relationships between law enforcement and the black community can be repaired to the benefit of all individuals. We have a problem, but a solution is not impossible, and hope lies in some of Los Angeles’s most dangerous neighborhoods, where we are slowly building bridges between police and residents.
Usa today:
• Nearly two times a week in the United States, a white police officer killed a black person during a seven-year period ending in 2012, according to the most recent accounts of justifiable homicide reported to the FBI.
• On average, there were 96 such incidents among at least 400 police killings each year that were reported to the FBI by local police. The numbers appear to show that the shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson, Mo., last Saturday was not an isolated event in American policing
• The reports show that 18% of the blacks killed during those seven years were under age 21, compared to 8.7% of whites. The victim in Ferguson was 18-year-old Michael Brown. Police have yet to identify the officer who shot him; witnesses have said the officer was white
