Merseyside Police were branded "institutionally racist" by local Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Emily Spurrell in an interview which appears to have caught the force by surprise.
Ms Spurrell, who was elected to the position in May 2021, said that while the "vast majority" of officers were "incredibly dedicated" and "not racist" - the institution had been "designed by a certain group of people" and "did not take into account" the experiences of black and ethnic minority people.
Merseyside Police's Chief Constable, Serena Kennedy, flatly denied the force was institutionally racist, while Merseyside Police Federation, representing rank and file officers, said Ms Spurrell's comments were "deeply disappointing".
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However anti-racism activist Chantelle Lunt, herself a former Merseyside Police officer and now founder of Merseyside Black Lives Matter (BLM) Alliance and Operation Withdraw Consent, said the comments did not go far enough and absolved individual officers of responsibility for a " racist culture " in the force.
Ms Spurrell made the comments in a discussion with Policing TV reporter Danny Shaw, who asked: "Do you accept that Merseyside Police is institutionally racist?"
She replied: "I do. I do. And I've had this conversation with my Chief [Serena Kennedy]. Because I think when you look at the definition of institutional racism, it is not about individual officers. I know that Mersesyide Police, absolutely, the vast majority are incredibly dedicated, not racist, you know, to me, they are absolutely committed to serving the public, whoever they are.
"And quite often will go out of their way to engage with communities, from minority backgrounds. So the definition of institutional racism is not about calling individual officers racist, it's about saying, as an institution, like with lots of institutions across the country, it has been designed by a certain group of people, and it does not take into account how, you know, black and ethnic minority people might experience things and how they might get treated."
The comments came as part of a discussion involving Ms Spurrell, Dorset PCC David Sedwick and Hertfordshire PCC David Lloyd about various subjects around policing, including efforts to tackle institutional racism. Both Mr Lloyd and Mr Sedwick said they did not think their respective police forces were institutionally racist.
Today Chief Constable Kennedy responded to Ms Spurrell's comments, telling the ECHO: "I categorically do not believe that Merseyside Police is institutionally racist. The history and impact of racism across policing and the harm this has caused to communities and colleagues is clear.
"There has been a lot of work done nationally and locally to understand and address this. We know that policing, like society, is not free of racial discrimination, bias and disproportionality. It still exists in some policies and processes, and we are taking action to change this. We collectively want to improve, we want to progress, we want to be better. We are not institutionally racist."
A spokesman for the Merseyside Police Federation said: "It is deeply disappointing to hear the Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell allege Merseyside Police is institutionally racist. We refute this statement.
"Our members serve Merseyside to the best of their ability, running towards danger to help members of the public during times of emergency. Our members serve a diverse community and are proud to do so."
Mrs Lunt, from Halewood, resigned from Merseyside Police after making formal complaints about racism and sexism, which the force said were investigated and resulted in "learning and advice" for several officers. She told the ECHO Ms Spurrell's comments strayed away from the official definition of institutionalised racism as defined in the 1999 Macpherson report - a damning inquiry into failings by the Metropolitan Police while investigating the racially motivated murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
She told the ECHO: "While Emily Spurrell suggesting that Merseyside Police force is institutionally racist appears to be a headline grabber and a step in the right direction, we really need to scrutinise what she has said. She's cherry-picked aspects of the definition of institutionalised racism to suggest that it's a problem within all organisations and there's no individual culpability, but it's a systemic problem at a policy level.
"However she's omitted key parts of Macpherson's actual definition of institutional racism."
Mrs Lunt said Sir William Macpherson defined the term as "the collective failure of organisations to provide appropriate and professional services to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin". He also described it as existing "in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness or racist stereotypes which disadvantage minority ethnic people".
Ms Lunt added: "I feel like Emily Spurrell goes to great lengths here to assure officers that they're not racist, it's the system. But it's both the system, and the officers. The officers are racist and the system protects them, and I am by no means saying that all officers are racist, but there's a culture within policing where black people are both failed as victims and overly-policed, and targeted and surveilled as suspects of crime.
"The recent data from the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) shows that Merseyside has the second highest number of stop and searches, and we still know that they're disproportionately used against the black community although that rate has lowered in recent times.
"It sounds as if this is more of a soundbite to grab headlines and I would like to see what actions will follow this half-admission of institutional racism. What are you going to do to address the culture? What are Merseyside Police going to do to ensure that black victims of crime are served by the police service - because they are a service - and how are they going to record the 'dark figure' of crime, which is all those people who have completely lost trust in the police and refuse to report crimes to them.
"That quote didn't go far enough in my opinion".
When contacted by the ECHO about the interview, Ms Spurrell said in a statement: "If we are to truly tackle racism in our institutions, we must first acknowledge the scale of the issue. However we define it, racism and inequality permeate all our public institutions.
"We can see that from the outcomes for black and ethnic minority people in all walks of life, whether that’s disproportionality in stop searches, over-representation in our criminal justice system and prisons, or disparity in educational outcomes, employment opportunities and healthcare.
"Acknowledging structural racism absolutely doesn’t mean our individual police officers and staff are racist. It means recognising that our systems and processes were designed by a certain group of people in a different time when the make-up of society was different. It means recognising some of those structures are out-dated and that they don’t work for all our communities now.
"There’s no doubt it is an uncomfortable, difficult conversation. However, I believe that by recognising it in this way, by admitting there are still problems, our communities will have more faith that we are committed to tackling it and changing for the better.
"This is not to suggest we are still in the same place as when the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report was released in 1999. A huge amount of progress has been made since that time.
"But we must continue to be actively anti-racist if we are to win trust back, particularly among black communities. That means being open and honest, owning the problem, and taking proactive steps to redress the balance.
"Merseyside Police, under the leadership of the Chief Constable, has already taken significant steps to tackle disproportionality. That includes ensuring officers and staff are more representative of the communities they serve, creating a dedicated Diversity Equality Inclusion team, reducing the disproportionality of stop searches and allowing public scrutiny of stop and search from body worn camera footage.
"This is all positive work. We are taking good strides in the right direction and I welcome the Chief Constable’s commitment to go even further. I have scrutinised her on disproportionality at my Public Scrutiny Meeting and she has been unequivocal in her commitment to continuing to embed the right culture across Merseyside Police.
"But we still live in an unequal society. Policing is embedded in that society. That means - like all walks of life and all institutions – we continue to battle issues with discrimination, with inequality and with disparity."
