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THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACK/MINORITY ETHNIC POLICE OFFICERS, SUPPORT STAFF, SPECIAL CONSTABLES AND RESIGNERS IN SCOTLAND
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
The public acknowledgement of only one complaint about racism, by a Black/Minority Ethnic Police Officer against the Police anywhere in Scotland in recent memory, compared to the numerous complaints of this nature in England over the last few years, indicates that the Black/Minority Ethnic Officers within Scottish Police Forces experience no racism.
Aims
The aims of this study are three fold:
- To ascertain the experiences of serving black and minority ethnic police officers, special constables and civilians in Scottish Police Forces.
- To explore the experiences of black and minority ethnic individuals who have resigned from any of the Scottish Police Forces; whether police officers, special constables or civilians.
- To ascertain the reasons why there have been so few official complaints about racism from within Scottish Police Forces.
Methodology
The primary means of data collection were questionnaires, supported by focus groups and individual structured interviews.
Participants were black and minority ethnic individuals who were either serving police officers, special constables, civilians or who had resigned from such posts.
After successfully running a pilot scheme in Lothian and Borders Police, the author dispatched sixty two questionnaires to black and minority ethnic members of all eight Scottish forces. Of these, fifty two were completed and returned. Thirty eight individual interviews and eight focus group interviews were carried out.
The overall sample size therefore, was fifty two participants.
Main Findings
- 76% of the participants said they believed there is racism within the Police Service.
- 69% of the participants said they had experienced racism in the Police Service.
- 17% of those who said they experienced racism had complained about it.
- This represents 12% of the participants in the study.
- 100% of those who made complaints about racist behaviour said they had received negative reactions from their line managers and colleagues after having made the complaint.
- 44% of the participants said they believed there was no genuine commitment to race equality in the Police Service.
- 50% of the participants believed that there were no implementation strategies for any existing race equality policies.
- 62% of the participants said they had expected to suffer racism in the service when they joined.
- 70% of the participants said they would not discourage their children from joining the police but only 37% of all participants said they would encourage their children to join.
- 79% of the participants reported having been the target of racist jokes within the Police Service.
- 63% of the participants admitted to having told racist jokes themselves.
- 94% of the participants said racism has not been a barrier to their career progress.
The individual interviews and focus group discussions covered a wide variety of topics related to participants' work and experiences. The main issues that they seem most concerned about included:
- General lack of awareness of issues concerning racism
- The 'Canteen Culture'
- Isolation
- Pressure to belong to and perpetuate the existing work culture
- Special Constabulary
- Support Staff and Resigners
- Targeting underrepresented groups for recruitment purposes.
- Probationer Training
- Police Complaints System
- Black Police Officers Association
- Scottish Police Federation
Conclusion
From the research conducted, it can be argued that racism exists in Scottish Police Forces.
With 69% of participants having said they experienced some form of racism within the service, the hypothesis that racism does not exist within Scottish Police Forces cannot be supported. The number of complaints was small but that can be explained by other reasons, such as the fear of backlash. Such fears appear to have made the situation worse than it actually was and fed a perception that racism was much more prevalent within the service than it actually was.
Participants believed that much of the effort put into fighting racism over the last few years was geared towards the public and such efforts appeared tokenistic . This gave the impression that lip service was paid to the issue and no genuine commitment actually existed.
Officers failed to understand the issues of how to confront discrimination and where the responsibility for doing so rested. There were issues of organisational, structural, cultural and personal discrimination.
There was a significant lack of confidence in the complaint system.
With the current recruitment drive, there is a likelihood that the numbers of black and minority ethnic officers will increase, but there may be a retention problem in the near future if many young people who join the Police Service today do not accept any form of racism, in stark contrast to their predecessors.
Recommendations
Some of the recommendations may have already been addressed by some Forces in one form or another and may also be addressed by the new National Equal Opportunities Training Strategy.
It is recommended that:
- The Police Service should adopt a mentoring programme for all new recruits.
- An environment of "zero tolerance" to racist jokes and attitudes, regardless of the source, should be created.
- Awareness training programmes should not only cover service delivery but also issues in employee relations.
- There should be specialist equality units within Human Resources departments of Police Forces. A single equality officer is an inadequate provision.
- Procedures for handling complaints of racial harassment/incidents need to be overhauled.
- Overexposure of black and minority ethnic officers for publicity purposes (with regard to equality issues) should be discouraged.
- Openness should be encouraged with respect to targeting and encouraging people from minority ethnic communities to embark on careers in the Police. Officers should be educated as to the importance and necessity of such targeting and encouragement.
- Diversity issues should be made part of the core competencies on which officers are appraised.
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