Delivering an anti-racist police service

When I became programme director for the Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) a little over a year ago, one of my key ambitions was to reshape the plan into something that directly reflects what our communities want from an anti-racist police service.

Over the past 12 months we have sat in rooms with Black communities across the country. We have had conversations with YouTube influencers, police forces, partner agencies and leading civil society groups to get their views on what the Police Race Action Plan should look like. Much of this feedback is captured in the consultation report we published this summer.

Many of the key priorities identified in this feedback were of no surprise. The importance of engaging with communities, accountability for the plan’s delivery and clear performance targets all came through loud and clear.

Yet what was made just as clear was the expectation for us to work in partnership with other agencies to deliver the reform envisaged through the PRAP. Our communities want us to work with other groups and organisations to take a whole systems approach to tackling racism, discrimination and bias.

Policing unquestionably has a long history of looking inwards, of not bringing in outside expertise and assistance to drive change. This kind of insular attitude is particularly problematic when trying to address an issue which has been painfully slow over decades in terms of our progress.

We have a long way to go. But the actions and activities we have led over the past year I hope demonstrates a genuine willingness on behalf of the PRAP team to do things differently in order to deliver an anti-racist police service.

Earlier this year we launched our National Community Reference Group. This group, which has now grown to more than 80 members, brings together experts of predominantly Black heritage from many specialist areas to advise the plan and engage with policing more widely.

Chaired by Colin Burton, this group includes representatives from the likes of local and national civil society groups, academics, consultants, data specialists, barristers, marketing experts and former police officers.

We have run two roundtable events with leading civil society groups over the summer to consult on the future strategy and direction of the plan, with a further meeting due to take place next week.

This is without mentioning the ongoing work of our Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board, which has brought considered and constructive guidance and challenge to the plan for several years now.

We have worked with youth groups, universities and the Race Council Cymru through to partners in the criminal justice system on different aspects of the plan. The PRAP is better, richer and more likely to succeed as a result of all this partnership insight.

Policing does not have all the answers to this and we are continuing to have promising conversations about some exciting new partnerships which we hope will further enhance the work we are doing.

Much more needs to be done. However, I am determined to work across policing and the wider criminal justice system, as well as with civil society groups and our communities, to deliver systemic and lasting change.