Network launches to shape Avon and Somerset Police's work to tackle race discrimination
A new network of people from minority communities is helping Avon & Somerset Police shape its race work, after the force said it was 'institutionally racist'
Black and ethnic minority communities have been asked to help shape the future of policing after Avon and Somerset Police labelled itself “institutionally racist.”
Chief Constable Sarah Crew applied the label to the force in June, following Baroness Carey’s review into London’s Metropolitan Police which she said was a “catalyst to examine ourselves.”
She said: “I’m not talking about what’s in the hearts and minds of most people who work for Avon and Somerset Police. This is about recognising the structural and institutional barriers that exist and which put people at a disadvantage in the way they interact with policing because of their race.”
Now, Chief Constable Crew has said that the police is carrying out new work to engage with black and ethnic minority communities.
Speaking at a police performance and accountability board on August 30, Chief Constable Crew said: “We know that those communities have significantly less trust in us and it means engagement is doubly important.”
But she said that the statement on institutional racism had given the police an opportunity, stating: “We used that opportunity to send some targeted invitations out to a much wider group of people and community members and stakeholders than we normally do to create a new network of people who can help us understand and help us become an anti-racist organisation in the work that we call Race Matters.
“And that was a request to say: will you be actively involved in policing, in shaping the future in the proposals we want to develop into action, or do you simply want to be informed?
“Already people have come forward and already we have held consultation forums and workshops on some of those streams of work.”
47 people have currently joined the Race Matters engagement network. Chief Constable Crew added that more were joining as the police promoted it more.
She added that the network had also helped share community appeals and was “a channel of communication we didn’t have before.”
The police are also investing in their communications team to connect with communities, and attempting to increase engagement in local communities through social media.