Sussex Police welcomes national plans to build an actively anti-racist police service
Sussex Police has said it is committed to tackling discrimination, bias and racism in the force following the release of a national Plan of Action.
The National Police Chiefs' Council and College of Police published the 'Plan of Action on Inclusion and Race' today (Tuesday 24 May), which addresses race disparities affecting Black people.
The plan sets out how policing as a whole will work to change a legacy of distrust and encourages urgent reform in areas where bias exists.
It also focuses on tackling discrimination against Black communities as the most disproportionately impacted, evidenced by national data.
Deputy Chief Constable at Sussex Police, Julia Chapman, said that the force will fully commit to the new plan and welcomes plans to build an 'actively anti-racist' police service.
“We fully commit to the national Plan of Action on Inclusion and Race and welcome publication of the plan today, marking the start of a national commitment to build an actively anti-racist police service which reflects and protects all communities." She said.
“While much has been done by policing to address racism in the police and society, with policing now being more inclusive, more diverse, and more reflective of our communities than ever before, it is our view that policing does still contain racism, discrimination, and bias.
"Whether that’s in the behaviours of some officers and staff, or in the policies and procedures we operate."
“It’s important to understand that we are not characterising policing or saying all of our officers and staff are racist.
"Instead, we are saying that we recognise, alongside overt instances of racism which are unacceptable and must be tackled, that there are areas of policing where there is still a negative disproportionate impact on Black people and therefore, we, as Sussex Police, commit to being a Force which is anti-racist, will remove unconscious and conscious bias, and be one which people can trust, particularly those within the Black community.”
The force highlighted that is already has 'significant' work underway to address racism in police and society, but supports concerns laid out in the national plan that change has not come quickly enough.
There are four key areas highlighted for improvement, that all police forces in the country are being urged to work on.
They are:
Force culture and inclusion
Use of police powers
Community relations and engagement
Protection from victimisation.
Sussex Police stressed, however, that is already working on these four areas to help achieve its aim of being an anti-racist organisation.
It is already working with the Sussex Police Race Action Group and the Race Equality Network, which has enabled it to develop its own Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.
Force Champion for Race and Inclusion, Superintendent Adam Hays, said:
“We have already taken steps as a force to address some of the disparities highlighted by the national plan as we recognise that without taking immediate steps to improve policies and procedures, public trust and confidence in policing is affected and our work to protect people from all backgrounds is less effective as a result.
“We aim to build on these steps taken so far, as it is not enough for us to say we are ‘not racist’, we must translate both the national plan and our local delivery plan into action and real tangible difference.”