Police leaders in England and Wales will decide not to accept that their forces are still institutionally racist, as they try to battle their way out of a race crisis.
Chief constables began considering a public admission in December and have held a series of private meetings among forces to try to find agreement.
Multiple sources with knowledge of discussions say plans expected to be released in March by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) will contain no acceptance that institutional racism should be admitted.
Experts in racing and police warn a failure to admit institutional racism will damage already weak confidence in policing among black communities.
Policing was first labelled as institutionally racist in the 1999 Macpherson report on failings that let the racist killers of the black student Stephen Lawrence escape justice for so long.
A series of continuing crises over race, and official statistics showing black people are more likely to face coercive powers such as force and stop and search, led police chiefs to vow change, and to boost black confidence, which runs lower than white.
Sir Dave Thompson, chief of the West Midlands who is leading for police chiefs on the race plan, told the Guardian: “We have discussed it [institutional racism] quite a lot. Chiefs have expressed their views. I think it is quite difficult to get a universal view.”
Thompson said some chiefs viewed it as an “incendiary term”, saying it unfairly tarnishes policing, which is unhelpful. “It becomes a term to say that everything is broken,” he said.
Among those opposing any admission of institutional racism were Britain’s biggest force, the Metropolitan police, as well as Greater Manchester police. Those in favour include Avon and Somerset, but a consensus was needed and will not be found, multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions say.
Since the Black Lives Matters protests that erupted across the UK in 2020 after the murder by US police of George Floyd, police chiefs in Britain have been under pressure. They have been working on a plan to lessen the enduring problems they have on race.
Chiefs are expected to commit to being an “anti-racist” police service, but what that means is yet to be defined.
Police leaders will have a special meeting on 15 March, with their long awaited race plan released later in March in draft form, which will then go out for a fuller consultation.
One senior chief constable criticised the plan: “It has a bureaucratic style. It saps my will to live, it’s very aspirational, and there are no targets.”
Another source described the plan so far as “woeful” and “just platitudes”.
One chief constable was more positive: “It’s alright as a start”, adding consensus on the most controversial points such as institutional racism had been elusive.
Among plans in draft form, are greater collection of data, including of traffic stops. The Met has started doing that as a pilot. Also there are plans for greater mentorship for those minority ethnic officers who have joined, and mapping where minority ethnic officers are in the police hierarchy. This is hoped to show whether they are stuck at the junior ranks and assess their progression against white colleagues.
Victor Olisa, former head of diversity at Scotland Yard, said failing to admit institutional racism would be a serious error: “If it doesn’t then their credibility which is very weak now, will get even weaker. The black community will believe that senior officers do not care about solving the issues of race.
“If you don’t accept it, you reject it and just carry on as before.”
Veteran campaigner Stafford Scott from Tottenham Rights, said British police had got worse on race since the BLM protests almost two years ago. “Institutional racism is a cancer that spreads. Unless you identify it you are not going to address to cure it and it is just going to spread. It will become further embedded and institutionalised.
“No black person should engage with them unless they acknowledge institutional racism.”
Police chiefs appointed a barrister, Abimbola Johnson, to chair an independent board to scrutinise their plans.
