Equal Justice at the UN, Part I
Last Week (12 August 2024) Equal Justice had the privilidge of presenting to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). Here are Lawrence’s reflections:
“Last week I was invited by the UN to speak to CERD in Geneva on racism in the UK. I focused on racism in policing.
In March 2023 Baroness Casey found that the Met Police was institutionally racist (IR). This was nothing new, as she admitted. The same disproportionalities existed in misconduct and grievance processes overseen by the Professionalism Department (DPS) in the 1990s; as initially revealed in the 1999 Stephen Lawrence report.
Casey found the DPS to be unfit for purpose.
in response Commissioner Mark Rowley increased the size of the DPS by 50%! He said to expedite misconduct processes.
He also said that the protection (introduced for black officers wrongly and falaely accused of misconduct) of Legally qualified Chairs at misconduct hearings delayed matters and were unhelpful.
The Sec of State wrongly removed that protection from 2024. Black officers are still being targeted for false misconduct and now will be likely dismissed by compliant chief officers, when an independent lawyer would likely acknowledge the IR and acquit the black officer (and recommend the compliant DPS officers and racist complainers face misconduct proceedings).
Rowley referred to the proven abd undeniable IR as being ambiguous having previously denied its existence. Like former Commr Cressida Dick he has no track record of tackling racism and retains blind faith in the reinforced DPS.
One year on after Casey we remain where we were in 1999. There is no progress.
The Institutionally Racist processes and supervisors remain in process. The lack of effective oversight by the Home Office, MOPAC, the HASC, ISOB etc remains part of that problem. The EHRC has also failed and is not fit for purpose.
The EHRC were given clear evidence in 2014 of racism in the Met Police but wrongly found in 2016 that no racism was present. It found IR to be all in the mind of the black officer and made no findings of IR. Casey using data from 2013 however saw it clearly. Unfortunately the EHRC either lack the competence to uncover IR and/or were so compromised by 2016 that they would not make any finding which would upset their Conservative Govt funder. In late 2020 Liz Truss admitted to appointing four new Commissioners to carry out the Govt "agenda"; the cultural wars and the detail of institutional racism. The EHRC's senior race advisor resigned having been told no findings of IR should be made. The EHRC should be replaced with a new independent Commission.
The Race Action Plans are not fit for purpose and often overseen by senior white officers named in previous race cases.
The Met Police Commissioner needs to be sacked but presently there is a lack of political willingness to grasp that nettle.
In the meantime, black lives (both officers and in the black community) will be damaged and on tragic occasion lost while that institutionally racist machine is allowed to continue to crush lives, fairness and hope.”
Lawrence Davies