Baroness Doreen Lawrence told Good Morning Britain viewers the Metropolitan Police needed to do more to make people feel safe.
Joining Good Morning Britain this morning, Baroness Lawrence gave an exclusive interview ahead of Stephen Lawrence Day on Friday. This will mark the 29th anniversary since her son's racially motivated murder by a group of white men at a bus stop in Eltham, South East London.
Baroness Lawrence has promoted police reform for several decades, along with founding the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust in memory of her son. On the first Stephen Lawrence Day she described how she had worked for 26 years hoping for "an inclusive society for everyone to live their best life, regardless of gender, race, sexuality, religion, disability or background".
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Speaking with hosts Adil Ray and Kate Garraway, Baroness Lawrence said more needed to be done by the Met to ensure people on the streets feel safe. She said: "I listen to people talk all the time about, ‘Oh, we’ve done so much’ and yes, you have but the people on the street don’t feel that you have. And until you make that difference, until people begin to feel, ‘Yes, I feel a lot better for how things are’ then no."
On what would create better trust in the Met, Baroness Lawrence said: "If you look at the top of the Met and who's there at the moment, you don’t see anybody that looks like me, which until you change that - people who make the decisions. They’re not part of it, they’re not round the table to make that difference and that’s what needs to happen.
"Would they have anybody of colour as a Commissioner, they’re not there in order to raise up the ranks. That is what you need. I think it needs to be someone external from the Met, someone from the outside. I think that’s very difficult to say to have a non-police, because there’s so many things as a police officer that you need to know and understand how it works."
Recently Met Commissioner Cressida Dick resigned due to overwhelming pressure from the public after a string of controversies. Baroness Lawrence said the Met must be responsible for their actions.
She added: "Stuff has gone on for so many years. It’s very, very insular and that needs to change and bring some new ideas, and listen to people - when you do something wrong, be held to account for it. Many times within the Met they’re not held to account for doing wrong."
