Institutional racism and asking difficult questions in Assistant Constable's blog

ACC Matt Ward spoke about the anniversary of the Macpherson Report, a report which labelled the Metropolitan Police as institutionally racist and the scrutiny police forces are under for the way they treat Black people, women and the LGBT community.

He said policing was personal, reflecting and shaping who people are, and said he had joined the force because of his own experiences as a teenager, reflecting on how he had been the same age as Stephen Lawrence.

He said: "I joined West Midlands Police because of good and bad personal experiences I had as a teenager.

"I was the same age as Stephen Lawrence when he was racially murdered and I still feel my anxiety when catching buses late at night in unfamiliar areas.

"I was there when the Macpherson Inquiry visited Birmingham and remember being torn by the passionate and heated debate about whether West Midlands Police, the force I’m passionate about, was or was not institutionally racist.

"I even smile wryly when I think back to meeting in secret as we formed the first Black Police Association within the West Midlands because Black and Asian officers coming together to share their experiences was perceived by some as being both subversive and divisive."

ACC Ward also reflected on his own personal disappointment in senior leaders after BBC Panorama's "The Secret Policeman", which uncovered racism at a training centre and lead to resignations and disciplinary action.

He said that while there was a debate about the BBC using undercover tactics to get the story, he felt the debate missed the point about what the report and other reports had uncovered.

He said: "It misses the point, the same point that Scarman (1981), Macpherson (1999), Lammy (2017) and (regarding the Home Office) Williams (2020) have all made.

"This is that until policing accepts it has and continues to treat certain communities, such as the Black community, less favourably than others then we will not be seen as their protectors.

"And if communities do not see us as their protectors they have no reason to co-operate with us and if they don’t co-operate with us, we can’t protect them."

ACC Ward said the data around the treatment of Black people was overwhelmingly negative, with many experiencing disproportionate policing from stop and search, negative outcomes across the criminal justice system and lack of representation of Black officers and staff.

He said it was why UK policing had set up an Inclusion and Race Action Plan and why he was the chair of the WMP Legitimacy in Communities Board, but also spoke about the difficult messages going forward.

He said: "These are also very difficult and personal messages for us to hear, because we believe we do not act based on our biases and neither do our friends and colleagues.

"Therefore, in the face of such personal criticism it is only natural for us to become defensive by either challenging the statistics or using questionable logic to perpetuate stereotypes within Black communities."

To read the full blog, go to west-midlands.police.uk/news/blog-acc-matt-ward-were-not-institutionally-racist-some-our-best-officers-are-black