- Record numbers of white police officers are launching
legal actions claiming they have been victimised because of the colour
of their skin, The Observer can reveal today.
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- This reflects an alarming backlash against the Metropolitan
Police crusade to encourage ethnic minority recruits, with resentful whites
now convinced they are the ones being overlooked for promotion.
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- Yesterday Ray Powell, the president of the National Black
Police Association, warned that moves to end the culture of casual prejudice
were backfiring.
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- Attacking 'a ridiculous' pressure to hit strict targets
for recruiting black officers, Powell told The Observer there was a risk
of undeserving candidates being hired to boost the force's record on race.
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- Around half of the long-running race cases being taken
to employment tribunals by Met officers now involve white complainants,
according to evidence submitted to the Morris inquiry, which is examining
the force's treatment of its staff.
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- The inquiry has uncovered a bitter undercurrent of resistance
to change in anonymous interviews with officers, one of whom complained
that 'if you are from a [visible ethnic minority] whatever you want, you
can have.'
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- The Met has been under intense pressure to hire more
black officers since the Macpherson inquiry into the murder of black teenager
Stephen Lawrence, which concluded the force was 'institutionally racist'.
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- It has a target for 25 per cent of the force to come
from the ethnic minorities by 2009, so that it reflects London's population
as a whole.
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- However, Powell said with current progress that would
require up to 80 per cent of new recruits to be black and Asian, 'which
is ridiculous'.
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- He would rather see targets reduced and black recruits
rising through the ranks on merit, than allowing substandard applicants
to be taken on: 'There is a danger of black officers being set up to fail:
human nature being as it is, there is a risk that the standards may be
lowered.
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- 'I would rather see work on a sustainable environment
first of all for black officers within the police, as opposed to carte
blanche recruiting people into an environment where they won't be able
to be sustained.'
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- The process of change had been mishandled, with ordinary
officers confused and suspicious about the Met's tactics of 'so-called
positive action' policies stopping short of deliberately favouring black
candidates, but seeking to encourage recruits by combating racism in the
ranks, the black police leader said.
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- 'If you were to ask anybody in the police service what
positive action is, they don't have a clue: therefore they interpret it
as action against them.
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- 'They feel "we have got these black officers getting
everything, and apparently getting a leg up" when in fact they are
not.'
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- The warning is borne out by evidence to the Morris inquiry,
which is now considering its verdict after six months of hearing testimony
from more than 50 witnesses.
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- Led by Bill Morris, the former Transport and General
Workers' Union leader, it has received a string of complaints of black
officers being victimised for trivial offences, such as appearing on parade
in a short-sleeved shirt instead of a long-sleeved one.
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- Women officers told of a macho 'lads and dads' culture
that forced them to watch porn during breaks, refused them permission to
work part-time or have shifts to fit around childcare and even barred them
from expressing breast milk at work.
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- Anonymous interviews conducted on visits to London police
stations exposed the hidden resentment among white officers. One complained:
'The perception is that black officers are only getting a promotion because
they are black'. Others urged the Met to 'slow [its reforms] down a bit
and look at white officers. They are forgotten.'
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- The problem is not confined to the Met, according to
the Nottinghamshire branch of the Black Police Association, which told
the inquiry that the promotion of one local Asian sergeant prompted six
white rivals to sue for racial discrimination.
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- Jan Berry, chair of the Police Federation, reported complaints
from white officers in Greater Manchester about the handling of disciplinary
proceedings following a BBC undercover documentary, which filmed a recruit
at a training centre wearing a Ku Klux Klan-style outfit.
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- Esme Crowther, head of the Met's employment tribunal
unit, told Morris that seven out of 15 race cases of more than two years'
duration now involve white officers claiming to have been victimised. Most
objected to being disciplined when they claimed visible ethnic minority
officers had not been.
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- The inquiry was set up by the Metropolitan Police Authority
following the cases of Sergeant Gurpal Virdi - sacked for allegedly sending
himself hate mail, but reinstated after a tribunal hearing - and Superintendent
Ali Dizaei, paid £80,000 compensation by the Met after accusations
against him were dropped after four years and an investigating costing
£7m.
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- Both cases risked seriously damaging nationwide efforts
to recruit black officers, with some chief constables now calling for black
candidates to be 'fast tracked' through the system in an effort to hit
their targets - the sort of positive discrimination Powell feels is counterproductive.
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- Morris is understood to be considering a range of potential
measures, including an independent ombudsman for internal police discipline,
and case managers to speed up the handling of complaints. Officers can
be now suspended for years on end as investigations grind on.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,11374,1288372,00.html
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