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I
am a recently retired Detective Chief Inspector, founder
Member and past Chairman of the Metropolitan Police
Service - Black Police Association. I am also a former
Metropolitan Police, Police Federation Representative
for Detective Chief Inspectors and Detective Inspectors
in South East London.
I
was profoundly saddened and disappointed to read the
comments attributed to Sir John Stevens, Commissioner
of the Metropolitan Police Service (Police are 'scared
to criticise black officers') in the report by Stewart
Tendler (Times February 19 2004, p21).
I
have the utmost respect and admiration for Sir John
Stevens as a courageous, forthright and legendary
leader of the leading Police Service in Britain. On
a personal level he is one who has positively shown
me enormous courtesy, compassion and humanity during
some of the challenging times of my 30 year police
career in the Met and since my retirement in December
2002.
However,
if reported correctly, I fundamentally disagree with
the assertions and inferences attributed to him. In
my view, they are symptomatic of why unfortunately,
it has been deemed necessary to have an Inquiry headed
by Sir Bill Morris into issues pertaining to the Metropolitan
Police Service (and by implication the wider British
Police Service).
When
I joined the Metropolitan Police Service there were
only about a dozen black police officers out of a
strength of 28,000. In those days police Commanders
sometimes expressed exasperation about 'Police Constables
with three stripes' meaning those who had achieved
the rank of Sergeant but showed little evidence of
management, leadership and supervisory ability and
capability.
The
empirical evidence presented by black officers and
police staff in successful employment tribunals and
the daily anecdotal evidence by black officers of
their treatment at the hands of some managers and
supervisors is at great variance with the words attributed
to Sir John.
The
Commissioner spends vast sums of public money on his
Leadership Programme for the Senior Staff and Managers
in the Met. I would suggest that if an adequate and
appropriate response to the recommendations of Lord
Scarman, Lord Justice MacPherson (Chair of Stephen
Lawrence Inquiry) former Commissioners Lord Imbert
and Sir Robert Mark et.al. were applied, the suggestion
that some police managers are struggling to do their
duty, would be quickly rectified.
I
would suggest that the Police Occupational Culture
has far more to do with some in the Met and other
Police Services in Britain still being unable to come
to terms with The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, Report
and Recommendations. It does not bode well for the
Morris Inquiry, whatever the findings and recommendations.
And far more importantly for me, who will action those
recommendations.
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