« Previous | Contents | Next »
Listen
THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACK/MINORITY ETHNIC POLICE OFFICERS, SUPPORT STAFF, SPECIAL CONSTABLES AND RESIGNERS IN SCOTLAND
CHAPTER FOUR
Contributions of Special Constables and Support Staff
It was interesting to note that support staff (civilians) and special constables were more willing to discuss issues of racial discrimination and needed less prompting than serving Police Officers. It is however noteworthy that all the participants spoke candidly and in the opinion of the author, honestly.
Special Constabulary
Minority ethnic special constables are in a different situation. Many of the ones who participated in this research do not feel that they are treated as full members of the Police Service. Most of them talked about the lack of support from the white officers they were working with during some risky situations.
"I was walking along the street with my colleague (a white, regular officer) when we were accosted by a group of young men one of whom took my police cap off my head and passed it round with his friends and making jovial but racist comments to me. I was going to have this man arrested and maybe cautioned for what he had done and said, so I looked to my colleague for support. He just turned away from me, took the cap from one of the men and "off you go" he said to them. No warning or caution, he did not even bother to talk to me about the incident. The men then walked away laughing and poking fun at me as they went"
When asked if he thought a white special constable would be treated in the same way, this officer replied, "I don't know but I don't think so".
As in the case of serving officers, there is also a lack of support structures for special constables and civilian staff when it comes to racial matters. They are largely left to their own devices. There is an evident lack of training on racial issues and where some training is available, much emphasis is placed on how to deal with members of the public and very little on challenging the racist behaviour that is displayed when dealing with one another within the service.
Whilst the perspective remains amongst special constables that they are not viewed as proper police officers by their regular constable colleagues, their evidence suggests that they still undergo loyalty tests similar to those reported by regular officers of minority ethnic background. A special constable related the following incident:
"I was on duty one day when a guy was arrested and detained in the cells. He had bruises all over him and I don't know how he got the bruises, but he received no medical attention whilst he was in police custody. On seeing that a minority ethnic officer was in the station he tried to speak to me in his first language, from the way he was talking, it appeared to me as if he had a mental problem (he wasn't violent or disorderly). This guy was reeling in pain but I was told that I was not allowed to assist him. It was like being asked to choose between my people and the police. The guy obviously required medical attention. I felt like I was being tested to see where my loyalty lay, how long could I watch somebody from my community being maltreated and how I felt about it. I still don't know whether I had to go through this test because I am a special constable or because I am from an ethnic minority".
Participants were unable to agree on whether the treatment received by these special constables was due to their ethnicity or it was because of the general feeling amongst serving officers that special constables were not really police officers.
This issue must be resolved very quickly if the Police Forces intend to use the Special Constabulary as a means of recruiting more black and minority ethnic people into the police by giving them an opportunity to experience service in the police before they make a full commitment.
Despite the unpleasant experiences mentioned above, all the special constables, without exception, were generally pleased with the Police Service and when asked why they did not join the regular service, all said that if their circumstances were slightly different, they would join the regular forces. One female special constable made the point that if the basic training at the police college could be done on a part-time basis or if it had some form of time flexibility, she would definitely join the regular force. The special constables said they have an opportunity to experience life in the Police Service without which their willingness to join the regular Police Service would never have arisen.
Support Staff and Resigners
The interviews with the support staff and resigners brought to light a number of interesting issues.
One of the resigners had worked as a civilian (support staff) in the police and claimed that the alternative to resignation was acceptance of the racist taunts from "so called colleagues".
"The attitudes were entrenched, your work was over-scrutinised and it was as if they were expecting you to fail. There was an apparent lack of support from your supervisors".
"I left the force because I had had enough. I had racist comments made about me so many times it just became a joke to complain. I was once told that as a result of my accent, I couldn't be considered an English speaker".
"Stupid questions are asked of me and it is like I have to justify my existence there every time. I have not been insulted to my face but there is something in the way they speak to me or look at me that is worrying".
"As a black person working for the police, you are under a lot of pressure as you are aware that you do not represent yourself only but the whole of the community. This means that you are fighting two battles, as you want to strike a balance between the interest of the community and your own personal interest. You therefore sometimes find yourself in a position that you have to take all that is thrown at you otherwise you could be accused of being oversensitive and that may jeopardise the chances of other black people getting jobs here in future so you keep quiet and do not complain. However, by not complaining, the perpetrators seize on your silence as consent to carry on with their racial behaviour".
"The chances for progress are nil. You do not get commended for good work and if you ever do, it is embarrassingly over the top. It is as if you were not expected to be able to do that piece of work in the first place. By the same token your mistakes are amplified, over-emphasised and exaggerated in order to confirm the belief that you could not do the job in the first place. When a black officer gets promoted, you begin to hear rumours about how it was just a token promotion or that he never even sat his exams. This is all done so as to undermine the officer in his new role and, should he fail, they can say "we told you so". As a black person you have to be twice as good to get half as far. You are also expected to be grateful for having a job at all so you should be showing your appreciation at every opportunity".
"You tend to find that the problem lies with the tiny emperors in their tiny empires but how do you go and complain to the senior officer about some minor and seemingly trivial matters? It is this low level attrition that eventually gets you. You sometimes get a big incident but they put it down to incompetence, lack of awareness or even thoughtlessness. You know that is not true because all the seemingly trivial issues, many if not all of which were not reported, form a pattern of systematic harassment. It is this low level war of attrition that tells you that you are not wanted there".
Three of the four resigners cited racial abuse, lack of support, or lack of career prospects as a minority ethnic person, as playing a major role in their decision to resign. It is noteworthy, however, that none of them stated racial abuse or harassment as the only reason for their resignation.
Other Themes
Targeting Underrepresented Groups for Recruitment Purposes
This is an issue that makes a lot of the participants uncomfortable. Over 85% of the officers, special constables and support staff spoken to were against targeting any one community for recruitment purposes. When asked why they were against the idea, the answer given in almost all cases was that targeting for recruitment purposes was a euphemism for positive discrimination. They were worried that this would diminish their positions and achievements, as people would see all black officers as beneficiaries of positive discrimination rather than having attained their positions through merit. Many such officers indicated that they have been taunted over the issue by colleagues. Some of the things said include:
"Nobody can touch you, you are the token darkie"
"You'll make sergeant in two years, they have to be seen to be PC"
"You only got in because you are minority ethnic"
"You coloured guys are bullet proof whatever you do in the force"
In some forces, minority ethnic officers have been invited to, and have had, meetings with the Chief Constable. Over 50% of the officers spoken to in those forces were not comfortable with the idea of having meetings with the Chief Constable as, they say, it smacks of tokenism and creates resentment from their white colleagues.
During the course of the interviews, it transpired that a large proportion of police officers did not understand the issue of targeting for recruitment purposes and many of them consider the issue to be the same as positive discrimination. Over 80% of the officers spoken to did not appreciate the differences between positive action and positive discrimination and believed both were the same thing. The officers believed that if the Police Service targeted the minority ethnic community for recruitment purposes, standards would be lowered to allow for an increase in people from the minority ethnic community joining the Police. This, they argued, would diminish the achievements of minority ethnic officers currently serving in Scottish Polices Forces because they would be lumped together with the new intakes and seen as beneficiaries of positive discrimination. These officers also believe there would be a general backlash against minority ethnic officers and support staff in the Police Service, should it go down the line of targeting the minority ethnic communities for recruitment purposes.
Probationer Training
The issue of the level of training on, and understanding of, racial issues was discussed. Many young officers stated that they received little training on the issue at the Scottish Police College and that the training was limited to awareness issues only. Some officers talked of how their experience of racism started during probationer training.
One respondent related how he had asked course-mates to remove their shoes when visiting his room. One of them asked whether the request had anything to do with his religion, and appeared not to accept the explanation that, in fact, it was only a matter of hygiene. Returning to his room later, the respondent was shocked and disgusted to find muddy boot-prints all over his bedding. Was this a deliberate act of disrespect to his perceived beliefs? When he confronted his colleagues, they simply laughed at him. The following day, his laundry, left in a communal area, was covered in phlegm. No-one else's laundry was treated in this way - surely a deliberate and malicious act? To trample on a bed or spit repeatedly on laundry would be offensive in any case; where the malice is compounded by apparently deliberate sacrilege, the effect is doubly wounding.
This officer also said that personal items had subsequently been tampered with. When asked if the incident was reported, the officer replied:
"No, I did not want to be seen as damaging someone else's career".
There were also reports of young recruits being eager to demonstrate that they have bought into the "macho culture" and racist name-calling is seen as part of that culture.
According to another officer of two years service:
"My course mates did not see race issues and cultural awareness as part of mainstream policing; as far as they were concerned, it was optional. Very little time is spent on the issue compared to other issues of policing and I do not believe that it is high up on the priority list."
Police Complaints System
There was a significant lack of confidence in the complaints system. Due to the way the system is set up, it does not identify problems and seek solutions but it identifies culprits and apportions blame. Complaining against a fellow officer is therefore frowned upon within the Police Service. This attitude is, however, not peculiar to racial matters.
" Making a formal complaint against a fellow officer is like crossing the last frontier within the Police 'fraternity'. If your complaint is upheld, that officer has had it. Then comes the backlash, other officers see you as some kind of a 'Judas'; you are frozen out and treated as a social leper; you are perceived as having damaged the career of a fellow officer. This has absolutely nothing to do with your race, it will happen to you irrespective of your colour. If your complaint fails, then you have had it. Either way you lose if you make a formal complaint."
This officer also said that in extreme cases of malfeasance, a complaint can be made without fear of repercussions as such actions would be seen as protective towards the service but racism is not seen as malfeasance, just minor misdemeanour.
The issue therefore cannot and should not be addressed solely within efforts to tackle racism otherwise the integrity of the complaints system could be undermined.
Black Police Officers' Association
When asked whether they would like to see a Black Police Officers Association (BPOA) in Scotland, twenty one of the twenty nine serving police officers, special constables and ex police officers interviewed were against the idea. They believed that the number of black and minority ethnic police officers is not large enough to warrant such a body, they also believed that forming such an Association would invite some form of backlash from their white colleagues and alienate the black officers even further. There was a feeling, though, that the issue of race is low on the list of priorities of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF). Officers said they would not approach the SPF if they had problems in relation to their race, as they did not think it had either the expertise or the will to address racial issues. Many acknowledged though that they were not conversant with the work of the SPF but still felt the idea of a black officers association could lead to a doctrine of "Separate but Equal" which would further marginalise them and would therefore be counter productive.
A few officers were, however, of the opinion that a BPOA was desirable as they believe that the SPF as currently constituted does not and cannot address issues relating to race. They cite the example of the BPOA in England and Wales and how the body is now acknowledged as accurately reflective of the feelings of black police officers.
Scottish Police Federation
When the above issues were put to the SPF, it acknowledged its lack of expertise in race issues, pointing out that in the last ten years it had only had to deal with one complaint of racial discrimination. However it takes the views of officers seriously and agreed to explore ways in which the needs of black police officers could be better served. One way was to have a race equality unit within the SPF. The unit would then provide minority ethnic officers with advice and assistance with reference to issues concerning race relations.
The SPF spokesperson said that it had not been proactive on the issue of increasing the number of minority ethnic members of the Police Forces in Scotland. It had recently talked about a poster campaign but that did not materialise. The SPF had no records for people leaving the forces so it could not tell the percentage of black people resigning from the Police Forces in Scotland over the last ten years nor could it give the figure for white police officers who have resigned over the same period.
"We have never surveyed our members from the minority ethnic community on whether they have suffered racism but neither have we surveyed our female members on issues of …sexual harassment for example. Now this is something we are beginning to think about. What we don't want is to be seen as singling out anybody and saying to them 'do you have a complaint?' What I can say, however, is that we are there for anybody who has any sort of complaint."
Official of the Scottish Police Federation
« Previous | Contents | Next »