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THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACK/MINORITY ETHNIC POLICE OFFICERS, SUPPORT STAFF, SPECIAL CONSTABLES AND RESIGNERS IN SCOTLAND

APPENDIX I

The Pilot Project

Introduction and Background

Research carried out in England and Wales suggests that Black and Minority Ethnic Police Officers suffer racism in silence during their service years only to come out after retirement and say, " I wish I had said something". The reason for this it is suggested is that they felt the only way to guarantee their survival within the Police Service was to at least acquiesce with the racist taunts and attitudes of colleagues.

There has been only one publicly acknowledged 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. This suggests that the Black/Minority Ethnic Officers within Scottish Police Forces experience no racism.

Based on this hypothesis, Black/Minority Ethnic Officers and civilian members of staff of all the Police Forces were asked to participate in research into their experiences in the Police.

To ascertain the feasibility of such research in Scotland, a pilot study was carried out to test the research instruments and quantify levels of participation. In total, 101 request letters were sent by the researcher and 70 replies were received from officers and civilians indicating their willingness to participate in the research. The research therefore covered 70% of the Minority Ethnic members of staff of Scottish Police Forces.

The following is a breakdown of the figures as per individual forces.

With 70% of the target group indicating their intention to participate in the research, the viability of the research was established.

The research instruments were tested, as part of an overall pilot, in Lothian and Borders Police. The 67% who indicated their willingness to participate in this research were sent questionnaires relating to their experience generally as police officers, their general background before they joined the police and their specific experience as Black/Minority Ethnic police officers.

The questionnaire was designed so that it was non-threatening and user friendly so as to encourage participants to answer the questions without apprehensions.

All but one of those who indicated their willingness to participate in the exercise completed and returned the questionnaire.

In Lothian and Borders Police, the replies to the questionnaires were as follows:

• 45% of the participants have some military background.

Everyone in this group was either in the military service before joining the police or had a close relative in the military service. They all indicated that their military background had some influence or was the main reason for their decision to join the police.

• 67% would not discourage their children from joining the police and 7% of these would actively encourage their children to join.

Officers within this group indicated that should their children show interest in joining the police, they would not be adverse to such a decision. They were, in effect, taking a neutral position. As shown above, a minority would, however, actively encourage their children to join the police.

• All of the participants expressed concerns about racism within society; however, 78% expressed concern about racism within the Police Service.
• 89% believed racism is commonplace in the Police Service.

When compared with answer 3 above, answer 4 would indicate that there are about 11% of the participants who believe there is racism in the Police Service, but are not concerned about it.

• 67% stated that their ethnicity has been the butt of occasional racist banter from colleagues.
• 56% of those who experienced racist banter had not taken offence.
• Of those who took offence, none of them had reported the incidents.
• 56% of participants said they had told jokes that could be construed as racist.
• 89% claimed to have suffered racist abuse from members of the public (56% on more than 10 occasions).
• 56% have reported racial abuse from members of the public.
• 11% said they felt isolated as the only Black officers serving in their area.
• 78% had expected to suffer some form of racism in the police before joining.
• 56% said research such as this was necessary, while 44% said such research was desirable.

Interviews

On completion of the questionnaire phase, the interview phase commenced. All participants who had indicated their willingness to be interviewed were interviewed individually, comprising 78% of the total number of participants.

The interviews were structured in that they were the same questions for all the interviewees. It was a repeat of the questions on the questionnaire but with follow up questions to probe the reasoning behind their answers. The officers were asked to pick their preferred locations for the interviews and they all opted for their place of work.

The interviews revealed that whilst officers did not think their colleagues racist, there is an expectation by officers of racist attitudes from white colleagues. As long as the racist banter stays within the parameters of this expectation, officers would not attribute such action as racist, unlike they would react to similar action from members of the public. They see such behaviour as a way of bonding and that it is part of a sub-culture into which they must buy in order to be accepted. As one officer puts it "you'll have to earn your place in this job".

"My first two/three years were the hardest, my tutor cop was a cruel bastard who went to extraordinary lengths to make life difficult for me. I thought of quitting already at the Police College during basic training. Not because the training was hard but because of the racist behaviour of some of the officers from other forces and some of the instructors. I was constantly marked down even when it was obvious to everyone that I deserved better marks. My Force colleagues on the course gave me a lot of support and that helped me through the difficult times. I felt the treatment I received from the instructors was designed to frustrate me into resigning from the police but that only made me more determined to stay".

An officer of almost 10 years service made the above statement. This officer now sees that period as an initiation into the "team". Complaining would have meant loss of trust so, by not complaining, this officer has earned the confidence of colleagues and this was more important in the work that they do as police officers.

Police officers work in complicated, demanding and sometimes dangerous situations. As a result of this, there needs to be an element of trust and confidence in one another amongst colleagues. The test for Black/Minority Ethnic officers is the racist name calling and stereotyping. To prove that they are worthy of this trust and confidence, the Black officers have to extricate themselves from the stereotypes by acquiescence and, in some cases, usage of racist language themselves. This explains why racism is persistent within the Police Service, yet is being denied by almost everybody within the service.

A high proportion of officers admitted that they have witnessed white colleagues using racist language in their dealings with minority ethnic members of the public, especially when they are suspected of committing a crime. When asked why they did not challenge their colleagues, they said they did not think it was an issue. When pressed, one officer said: "I know my colleague well enough to know that though he sometimes uses racist language, he is not a racist". Again, it must be said that having been through their own "baptism of fire", such officers now see name-calling as a petty issue. They all said if it were a serious racist matter, they would report it. None of them, however, could quite state what they considered a serious racist matter.

All of the officers interviewed expressed strong anti-racist sentiments and stated that the situation both in society and the police should be constantly monitored. The efforts of the force to promote anti-racism also ranks low according to the officers interviewed. 89% of them have had no other form of training apart from the briefing they had during basic training.

Taking a look at the force's equality training programme, the researcher finds that anti-racist training is confined to 45 minute briefing sessions done at divisional level. There is also a tendency for the force to claim that its Equal Opportunities training programme contains enough anti-racist training. This has caused a lot of confusion for officers.

Complaints Procedure

Whilst officers are aware of the grievance and disciplinary procedures, they are not aware of any other complaints procedures available to them if they suffer racism within the force. In the apparent absence of any support structures, officers have been left to their own devices to deal with racism whenever it occurs. All officers are aware of the Force's public anti-racist stand but have yet to see any move internally to support this.

Focus groups

Group interviews were held after the individual interviews had been completed. They were held in groups of two. Only six of the original ten (60%) took part in the group interviews. The group interviews were unstructured and officers were allowed to discuss whatever they wanted to talk about. The interviews were held in neutral locations outside the police work environment.

Surprisingly, officers were more willing in focus groups than they were during individual interviews to accept that racism existed and is to a great extent commonplace within the force. However, they all said without exception that they could deal with it.

The group interviews also confirmed the feeling among officers that not enough is being done on racism within the force. "Since the Stephen Lawrence affair there has been a lot of talk about policy stuff but I have neither seen a change of attitude from white colleagues nor change within the system".

The Blame Culture

The nature of police work dictates to a large extent that there can be no crime without a culprit. This police logic means that if racism is acknowledged, then their colleagues are racist but as they know that their colleagues are not racist, their attitudes cannot be described as racist. As one officer of several years standing puts it: "where there is crime there is a criminal, where there is racism there must be a racist".

Conclusion

The first three years of Police Service seem to be the threshold. Officers who withstand ill treatment during this period would normally have formed bonds by the end of this time. Those who could not survive the first two years as probationers would not make good police officers. It appears that the discipline imposed by the service almost means that officers are not expected to complain and this is not just confined to racial issues. Police officers generally do not like to be seen to "rock the boat". The general consensus seems to be that racism does exist but it is not seen as a problem.

The officers who have survived within the system have done so not because of any support structures set up by the service but as a result of the coping strategies adopted by individual officers.

The issue of under-recruitment was discussed. The sample opinions so far are still too few to make any reasonable conclusions. This issue will be addressed in full in the final report.

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