The mayor of Bristol and the police & crime commissioner (PCC) have praised Avon & Somerset’s chief constable for declaring the force “institutionally racist”. But a councillor is demanding Sarah Crew’s sacking over the “monstrous and untrue criticism of excellent police officers”, saying confidence in the constabulary has been “fundamentally damaged” and its reputation brought into disrepute.
In a statement posted on the constabulary website on Friday (June 16), Chief Constable Crew accepted there was “clear evidence of differential experiences in the way we interact with people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds, particularly those who are from Black heritage communities”. The force’s top officer said there was a need for “real and profound change” to retain the public’s trust and confidence but insisted she was “not talking about what’s in the hearts and minds of most people who work for Avon & Somerset Police”.
Instead, it was about “recognising the structural and institutional barriers that exist and which put people at a disadvantage in the way they interact with policing because of their race”, she said. Her comments were branded as “virtue signalling” by Mark Loker, chairman of Avon & Somerset Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, and that her statement would “actually drive a divide between our officers and communities”.
Read more: Avon & Somerset Police is 'institutionally racist', Chief Constable admits
But speaking on BBC Radio Bristol’s breakfast show on Monday (June 19), Mr Rees backed Chief Constable Crew and hit back at Mr Loker’s criticism, calling it “tragic” and “quite frightening” that the federation could not understand or self-reflect on institutional racism. The Labour mayor said : “I’m really proud of having a chief constable who would look at the evidence and be so frank and, bearing in mind with the federation coming against her now, at such professional risk.
“I’m particularly proud that we have a chief constable who, rather than waiting for some sort of crisis that’s unearthed by the press as so often is happening in the Met, that we’ve got someone who’s getting ahead of it and saying we have an issue, let’s get into that issue before we have another crisis. Any organisation should be in a constant state of self-reflection and review for how it could be better.
“That means looking at data and evidence. As Sarah says, she’s looked at the data and evidence and said that at this moment we have to recognise that we have a collection of systems and cultures that are producing unequal outcomes for Black and Asian people.”
Asked by host James Hanson about the federation’s reaction, he said: “It’s tragic that the Police Federation would show that they’d had no ability to engage with what the Macpherson Report [into the Stephen Lawrence murder] told us institutional racism actually is, which is quite frightening if they don’t understand that, seeing as it was such a seismic report after a real tragic event. Institutional racism is not about the individual attitudes of white people, it’s saying that there is a collection of impersonal systems and cultures that routinely produce unequal outcomes.
“We are one of the most socially immobile countries in OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). That means that the circumstances of your birth, whatever your colour, are the biggest determinant of where you end up in life, whether you die poor or die wealthy.
“Now who’s organising that? There’s no evil individual organising that. That’s a collection of school, wealth, housing allocation, impersonal systems producing unequal outcomes for people in Bristol and across the whole of the UK.
“That’s what we’re talking about here, it’s not an attack on individuals, it’s saying a system is working in an unfair way,” said Mr Rees, who previously admitted Bristol City Council was institutionally racist. Avon & Somerset’s Conservative PCC Mark Shelford, who holds the constabulary’s top officer to account, said on Friday: “I have let the chief constable know I support her and have full confidence in her leadership.
“This is a challenging issue to face. However, through initiating and continuing these uncomfortable and difficult conversations, the chief constable is demonstrating openness, courage and a willingness to be held accountable by the communities that she and our dedicated police officers and staff serve.” He said the culture change required in the service would take at least five to 10 years and involved many areas, including improving vetting and selection processes, retention and progression of staff, how police complaints were handled and “crucially the training given to the workforce within the wider police family, particularly around leadership”.
But Bristol Cllr Richard Eddy (Tory, Bishopsworth) called on Mr Shelford to sack Chief Constable Crew if she did not retract her comments. In an email to the PCC on Sunday (June 18), which has been seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Cllr Eddy said he read with “dismay and utter bewilderment the recent bizarre and offensive claim of your politically correct chief constable that the principled and incredibly hard-working members of her police force are ‘institutionally racist’”.
He wrote: “Over the weekend, I have received numerous feedback from constituents and others – including serving magistrates and Neighbourhood Watch coordinators – demonstrating their outrage over the chief constable’s comments and indicating that their confidence in Avon & Somerset Constabulary under her leadership has been fundamentally damaged. I strongly urge you to publicly demand a retraction and apology from the Avon & Somerset chief constable.
“If this is not forthcoming or the chief constable’s explanation is ‘weak’, I suggest you pursue the dismissal of this individual on the grounds she has brought Avon & Somerset Constabulary’s reputation, policies and performance into disrepute.”
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