Cumbria Police committed to improving policing for black people

Video report by Tim Backshall

The Chief Constable of Cumbria Police insists the force is committed to improving policing for black people in the county.

Chief Constable Michelle Skeer’s comments follow the release of findings from the Police Race Action Plan Feedback Survey, which aims to gather a wide range of views on the national Race Action Plan, first published in May 2022.

More than a third of people surveyed said they had no confidence it would address the issue of racial bias.

Chief Constable Skeer said: “It is important we listen, understand, and know our communities better so we can progress and make that long term cultural shift to end racism and discrimination.  

“We have made considerable progress since launching the plan in May 2022 and are continuing our work with Anti Racist Cumbria, to deliver training to officers and staff to help us understand lived experiences of black people which has resulted in a lack of trust in policing and how we can challenge and reform moving forward.”

In terms of black and Asian police officers, Cumbria is the least diverse police force in the country.

The force has worked with Anti Racist Cumbria after finding during the pandemic that twice as many black and Asian people were fined during the lockdowns as white people.

“Our vision is to deliver an outstanding police service to keep Cumbria safe. To deliver this, we must treat everyone fairly, legitimately and improve the trust and confidence in us by black people and ensure we are inclusive to all,” said Chief Constable Skeer.

Cumbria Police is now taking part in a pilot scheme with 70 senior officers to look at ways of addressing any racism issues that exist.

Janett Walker, CEO and Co-Founder of Anti Racist Cumbria, said: "Here in Cumbria we don't have a high population of black and brown people but there are around 30,000 people in Cumbria who don't identify as white British so that's still a high number and we have lots of people visiting so our police force needs to feel confident to be able to work with all its communities, not just some."

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