A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor welcomes
the call from the Home Affairs Committee for urgent action to
tackle the deep-rooted and systemic racial disparities that still
exist in policing, and supports calls for a new independent,
statutory Race Equality Commissioner for policing.
“While progress has been made, we simply cannot ignore the fact
that Londoners from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities
have significantly lower levels of trust in the police. That’s
why the Mayor set out a bold action plan, working with
communities – particularly Black Londoners – to address their
concerns about racial disproportionality in the use of certain
police powers, including stop and search and the use of force and
Taser.
“The Mayor’s Action Plan has already introduced stricter
oversight of the use of stop and search in London – including
community monitoring – with training of new recruits now being
delivered with community input. The report today rightly calls
for minimum targets to improve the diversity of policing and the
Mayor has set bold and ambitious targets to support our police
service to become more representative of the city it serves –
including increasing diversity at every rank.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- City Hall has helped fund the UK’s largest roll out of Body
Worn Video for police, helping to ensure greater transparency and
openness about police actions and decision-making, working with
community groups to overhaul the Met’s Gangs Violence Matrix and
helping to redesign the way our police recruit new officers, to
ensure it is more reflective of the diverse city it
serves.
- As part of the Mayor’s Action Plan, the Met have agreed to
the target of 40 per cent of new recruits from Black, Asian and
Minority Ethnic backgrounds by 2022. The Commissioner has also
decided the Met will re-introduce the London residency criteria
for most new recruits and will be supported by £300,000 of City
Hall investment to encourage young Black Londoners to consider a
career in policing.
-
The Mayor and Met Commissioner also believe it is vital that
Black Londoners see themselves fully reflected in their own
police service, and that representation stretches up through
all the ranks which is why the Met has committed to more than
doubling the number of serving BAME Inspectors from 9 per cent
now to 19 per cent by 2024 and will also nearly double the
number of BAME Sergeants serving in the Met from 9 per cent now
to 17 per cent by 2024.
-
As a result of the Mayor’s Action Plan, the Mayor’s Office for
Policing and Crime will now produce a quarterly race equality
report of the Met’s use of its powers - this will include
publishing a breakdown of the Met’s use of Tasers, Stop and
Search, strip-searching and use of force in general.
-
The Mayor has carried out the largest and most comprehensive
review ever conducted into the Met’s Gang Violence Matrix and
swiftly implemented nine recommendations to ensure it is as
effective and efficient as possible. More than 1,000 young
Black Londoners with little or no evidence of a link to
criminal gangs have now rightly been removed from the Gang
Violence Matrix as a result of the Mayor’s comprehensive
review. The Matrix is now more focused on those most likely to
commit violence with the overall Matrix population reaching its
lowest total in seven years.
