Force leads for Police Race Action Plan come together to share best practice

The conference at the College of Policing on Wednesday (March 27) brought together those leading work locally on the flagship national plan to address racism and bias in the service.

Jacob Henry, the co-founder of youth group Vibe Youth who also sits on the panel scrutinising the Welsh government’s anti-racism plan, was the event’s keynote speaker as he spoke about his experiences with the police and how he felt policing could fulfil its ambition of becoming anti-racist.

The event also heard from different forces about the work they have going on in their area.

Neil Bennett, director of communications and engagement at Avon and Somerset Constabulary, spoke about his force’s bold approach to community engagement as part of its Race Matters programme.

Assistant Chief Constable Dennis Murray from Thames Valley Police explained the strategy and governance his force has put in place to deliver the progress envisioned through the plan, including a major overhaul of how the force structures its independent scrutiny.

Chief Superintendent Waheed Khan from Essex Police and Andy Harding from British Transport Police both spoke about the work they are doing around key areas of police powers like stop and search and use of taser respectively to address things like disproportionately.

It marks the latest event delivered by the Police Race Action Plan in recent weeks to get people engaged in its work and get their feedback on a refresh of the plan due to be delivered this summer.

This includes the plan launching its National Community Reference Group for experts and community leaders, running an event for stakeholders as well as a specific session for young people from across the country.

Further sessions are being planned with schools in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Nottingham to discuss the plan with young people and get their thoughts.

T/Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dr Alison Heydari, programme director of the Police Race Action Plan, said: “It was great to see everyone in person and hear more about work going on across different forces, as well as getting a sense of the collective sense of purpose and passion there is across policing to deliver on the plan and turn its objectives into reality.

“The past few weeks feel like they have given the plan fresh impetus and energy as we take the plan’s important messages and progress out across the country.

“The Police Race Action Plan remains vitally important for all of us to implement and buy into. We are lucky to have so many passionate individuals driving this work in our forces across the country and we will be doing everything we can moving forward to support this work and ensure this brings in long term cultural change for the better.”