The Future of UK Policing: Ensuring transparency, accountability & public confidence
(Ended 11th May 2023)
Online
11th May 2023 to 11th May 2023
Date of Event: Thursday, May 11th 2023
Time of Event: 9:30 AM — 1:00 PM
Key Speaker: Professor John Coxhead, Director of the International PIEL Centre, Royal Docks School of Business and Law, University of East London
The devastating revelations that a serving senior Metropolitan police officer, David Carrick, was able to conduct a 17-year-long campaign of serial rape, torture and abuse of women and continue in post with impunity despite multiple warnings and evidence of his criminal and misogynistic behaviour has sent shockwaves through British society and further damaged already brittle public trust and confidence in UK policing. Following an internal review conducted in the immediate aftermath of the revelation, a further 1,633 cases of accusations of domestic abuse or sexual offences against 1,071 Metropolitan Police officers and staff were identified, with those officers and staff having remained in post.
A 2022 report by the Institute of Race Relations has highlighted a growing culture of extremism in UK policing, with an increasing number of officers found to be sharing racist and far-right content online. Numerous scandals in recent months and years have exposed widespread racism, misogyny and homophobia within UK police forces, especially London’s Metropolitan Police, and raised serious questions as to whether a culture of institutionalised bigotry exists within UK policing. Growing public anger at the state of UK policing crystalised in 2021 around the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving Met police officer, Wayne Couzens, the police’s failure to heed warnings about Couzens, and its subsequent response to the tragedy, with officers violently supressing vigils for Everard during the COVID-19 lockdown. Further cases of violence against women and girls by police officers and the leaking of misogynistic, racist and homophobic messages between officers have exposed a culture of bigotry and protecting one’s own at the expense of citizens within a number of police forces.
In March 2022, the Police Foundation published its Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales, carried out in response to the various scandals that have blighted policing in recent years, and containing 56 recommendations urging radical reform to police culture, skills and training and organisational structure. These include: the introduction of a new licence to practice for all police officers that is renewed every five years and subject to strict conditions; and investment in front line policing, training and technology to modernise the service from top to bottom. In June 2022, the Met was placed in special measures by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, for the first time in its history, to provide “additional scrutiny and support to help make improvements”.
Subsequent to the Carrick revelations, and on the orders of the Home Office, National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) chair, Martin Hewitt, wrote to all chief constables, asking them to take “immediate action” to check all police officers against national databases and complete these checks by 31 March 2023 and to identify all cases for further investigation by September 2023. The NPCC also announced that it would begin working on a system to carry out regular automated checks of officers. More than 1,000 Met Police officers and staff who have previously been accused of domestic abuse or sexual offences are having their cases reviewed. In the wake of the Carrick scandal, Met chief, Sir Mark Rowley, unveiled the Turnaround Plan, his vision for reforming the force and winning back public trust over the next two years. The plan has nine priorities including building the “strongest ever neighbourhood policing”, improving public protection and safeguarding, giving victims a “compassionate” service, and showing communities “we care and respect them”. The Home Office has also launched a review of the police disciplinary system to ensure that officers who “are not fit to serve the public” and “fall short of the high standards expected of them” can be sacked.
This timely symposium will provide police forces, legal professionals, equality and human rights campaigners and other key stakeholders with the opportunity to identify strategies to strengthen transparency and accountability within UK policing, hold law-breaking officers to account, and introduce radical reform to in order to begin to rebuild public trust and confidence in British law-enforcement.
Programme
- Examine the recommendations made in the Police Foundation’s Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales
- Assess the role of the Met Commissioner in improving standards and building trust and whether the Metropolitan police should be broken up
- Consider the recommendations made in the Police Foundation’s Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales
- Evaluate Met chief, Sir Mark Rowley’s Turnaround Plan for reforming the force
- Discuss the challenges posed by implicit biases within police forces, ways in which implicit biases can be reduced to prevent discriminatory practice, and examine leading best practices
- Propose policy and legislative reforms to ensure transparency and accountability within policing and root out corruption, criminality and discrimination
- Examine what legislative changes and changes in recruitment policy are needed to root out discrimination and criminality from UK police forces
- Evaluate plans to develop a system for carrying out regular automated checks of officers to root out criminality and discrimination
- Identify opportunities to develop strong community partnerships and build trust in UK policing, including among young people, women, the gay community, and those from ethnic minority backgrounds
- Learn about efforts to improve the representation of ethnic minorities, women and the gay community within the police force, and how this can be improved
- Reflect on the Macpherson report, and examine whether the “institutional racism” it described has been tackled or how it could be tackled
- Analyse internal police complaints procedures and whether there is evidence of discriminatory practice
Who Should Attend?
- Police Services
- Chief Constables
- Borough Commanders
- Police and Crime Commissioners
- Heads of Diversity
- Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Officers/Coordinators
- HR Teams
- Police and Crime Commissioners
- Community Safety Officers/Managers
- Community Safety Partnerships
- Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships
- Crown Prosecution Service
- Victim Care/Advocacy Organisations
- Legal Professionals
- Human Rights Advocates
- Neighbourhood Policing Teams
- Community Cohesion Officers
- Community Engagement Officers
- Local Authority Officers and Councillors
- Central Government and Agencies
- Charities, Social Enterprises and Cooperatives
- Third Sector Practitioners
- Trade Union Representatives
- Academics, Analysts and Researchers