Policing by consent shattered, conference told
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Published
21 April 2023
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The failure of policing consent and institutional racism were among the issues raised by speakers at the Stephen Lawrence Day Conference at the University of East London on the 30th anniversary of the racist murder of the black London teenager.
Organisers of the conference, the National Black Police Association, welcomed speakers including the Hon Stuart Lawrence, Clive Driscoll, a former detective chief inspector and Trustee of Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, and activist Mina Smallman.
Stephen, aged 18, was murdered on the 20 April, 1993 while waiting for a bus in Eltham, south London. The police’s failure to properly investigate the murder, raised suspicions of racism in the Metropolitan which despite 30 years of reports and inquiries, have not abated.
The conference honoured Stephen’s legacy, and focused on how to tackle racism and discrimination in the police and accountability following on from the Baroness Casey Review of police standards. The review described the Metropolitan Police as ‘institutionally sexist, racist and homophobic’ in March 2023.
Speaking about the lack of trust of police in black communities, Clive Driscoll, who finally secured two convictions for Stephen Lawrence’s murder, said Stephen’s father, Neville Lawrence, had said recently, “The majority of black people in the country may not phone the police.”
Mina Smallman’s daughters were murdered in 2020, and there were failings in the subsequent investigations by the Metropolitan Police. Then, two Metropolitan Police officers took pictures of the girls' bodies and shared them with colleagues on WhatsApp.
Mina said, “It comes down to intent and integrity. Those two elements are missing from policing and our politicians. We have become more self-serving, and forgetting to put other people ahead of yourself.
“Most of the progress we have made has come from the tenacity of the victims. It shouldn’t be up to people like me to say ‘you can’t do this’. It shouldn’t be up to rape victims, victims who have experienced domestic violence from police officers to have the courage to stand forward and say ‘I’m doing it’.
“I don’t give a damn whether the [Met Police] commissioner accepts the term ‘institutionally racist’ because it isn’t up to one person. Perhaps we should do an anonymous ballot amongst police officers and see what comes back,” said Mina
“He’s missed a trick and so has Home Secretary Suella Braverman. If he’d have said there was institutional racism within the Met there would have been a whole body of people who’d have supported it. It is only then that real change can begin to happen. Enough is enough. It is time the good people do the right thing.”
Professor Buge Apampa, UEL’s Dean for the Office of Institutional Equity spoke about institutional racism and systemic oppression as a public health emergency which spans social factors, the education system and educational outcomes, the criminal justice system and health inequalities.
“We must review institutional policies and practices and listen to the voices of the marginalised, to learn and bring about a rapid and ruthless dismantling of the systemic inequities of race, class and privilege that have been historically applied to certain groups and result in diminished access to opportunity by these groups. E.g., we must diversify the gateway to recruitment in order not to lock out talents,” she said.
“We must all become anti-racist: this means, be committed to actively engaging with anti-racist activities and be prepared to call out racist actions and oppose racism. Being a nonracist, one who takes a passive, inactive position despite being aware that racism is wrong is not enough.”
Professor Apampa finished her speech by paying tribute to the bravery, resilience and strength of the Lawrence family.
“They have prevailed against all odds; they have not been beaten down even when the system rose against them; they are exemplars of the strength it takes to live whilst black, they have individually ensured that their human dignity will continue to act as a beacon for those coming behind them. I salute them,” she said.
Ruwan Uduwerage Perera, Director of Policing, Criminology and Justice and co-director of the Police Innovation, Enterprise and Learning Centre which runs policing degrees at UEL said,
“The Casey report was a robust scratch of the surface. Louise Casey was not given access to everything. The legacy of Stephen Lawrence and the Smallman family should not be what we’re doing today.
“It is about leadership. Leadership is not what we have heard from those who deny the existence of institutional racism. Instead, leadership is about acknowledging the historic structural failings of the service that has absorbed the worst excesses of society since its inception and moved away from those fine principles of policing established in 1829 which put the public at the centre of policing.
Ruwan said that the British model of policing, which has been exported around the world, was meant to be focused on policing by consent but this consent, which was already eroded within many communities, has, since the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving police officer, and the sentencing of a serving police serial rapist, been shattered for many within mainstream society.
“There is though hope within the police service, and this has recently come from the likes of the Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, Steve Hartshorn, who has bravely stood up as a genuine leader and affirmed his agreement with the findings of the Baroness Casey Review in that the police service is Institutionally Racist, Misogynist and Homophobic,” said Ruwan
“Until other police leaders follow the actions of the leader of the largest police staff association, the police service cannot move forward.”
April 22 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. For more information, see Stephen Lawrence Day.
More information on UEL’S PIEL Centre.
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