Policy Exchange report on racism in policing

Tuesday, 4 August 2026 10:48

Policy Exchange's new report, Without fear or favour"? An assessment of "Anti-Racism" in policing today raises concerns that the principle of equality before the law' has been eroded with increasing evidence to suggest that people are being treated differently based on their race. The report estimates that the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion activities by police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners over the last six years, has cost at least...Request free trial

Policy Exchange's new report, Without fear or favour"? An assessment of "Anti-Racism" in policing today raises concerns that the principle of equality before the law' has been eroded with increasing evidence to suggest that people are being treated differently based on their race.

The report estimates that the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion activities by police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners over the last six years, has cost at least £631 million. This sum would have paid for approximately 8.3 million hours of frontline operational policing priorities.

As a response to the murder of George Floyd in the United States on 25th May 2020, the National Police Chiefs' Council and College of Policing published a national Police Race Action Plan with 73 per cent of UK police forces going on to create their own local versions. 87 per cent (39) of forces make an anti-racist commitment or contain other anti-racist objectives or activities within their plans reducing the ability of frontline operational police officers to be impartial investigators.

The report makes a series of recommendations, including:

A new Police Impartiality Act to set out unequivocally the impartiality requirements for all Chief Constables, police forces, police officers and police staff members.
The HMICFRS and IOPC should remove compliance with the Police Race Action Plan and all aspects of compliance with the anti-racism and Diversity, Equality and Inclusion ideology from their inspection and investigation regimes replaced with a focus on impartiality, equality before the law and ending differential treatment based on identity characteristics.
The Home Secretary should clarify the role of the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing (or the National Police Service when created) in relation to policy-making functions, which should be strictly limited to matters of operational policing only.
The National Police Chiefs Council and College of Policing should withdraw the national Police Race Action Plan. Chief Constables should follow suit with all local variants.