Black people in Merseyside are twice as likely to be arrested than white people.
A scrutiny meeting of Merseyside Police senior officers heard that on average, black people across the region were 2.3 times more likely to be detained by officers than white people. According to Louise Kane, head of performance and analytics at Merseyside Police, this represents a downturn from 2.7 times three years ago.
Ms Kane told the meeting, held by Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurell, that while this was a “disproportionality to the force average” the “direction of travel is definitely a positive one” given where the force was in 2019. The findings come hot on the heels of controversial comments by Mrs Spurrell in which she agreed Merseyside Police was institutionally racist.
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Chief constable Serena Kennedy addressed the panel at Wallasey Town Hall to explain how four superintendents on the force were working through the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) race action plan to establish how the disparities can be resolved, as well as its inclusion strategy. Among the actions within the plan are the introduction of mandatory training for all police officers and staff about racism, anti-racism, Black history and its connection to policing.
It also calls on forces to adopt a new explain or reform approach to race disparities and developing a new approach to tackle issues in the use of police powers – such as traffic stops, stop and search, use of Taser and other types of force – supported by strengthened governance through effective supervision, community scrutiny of police data and body-worn video.
Following the meeting, the police and crime commissioner said she expected Merseyside Police’s figures to reflect the rest of the UK. Mrs Spurrell said: “There’ll be a similar picture nationally and I think that’s why the NPCC have put the race action plan together as they recognise these disparities do exist.
“It’s why I ask these questions during the scrutiny meeting to try and find out what the force is doing to tackle it. I think the chief has got quite a clear action plan or she’s certainly putting together the action plan on how we would reduce the disproportionalities.
“It’s there, it’s in the public domain, we know it's a problem and they’re going to pull the action plan in terms of how we’re going to tackle it and that’s probably the key starting point.”
