The Home Affairs Committee has condemned police forces in England and Wales for a ‘systematic failure’ to address racial disparities, more than 20 years after the landmark Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. In a report published on Friday, the cross-party group of MPs said ‘urgent action’ is needed to tackle ‘persistent, deep-rooted and unjustified racial disparities’ in policing, including in recruitment and the use of stop and search.
The committee’s inquiry found that progress on implementing the recommendations of the 1999 Macpherson report, which examined police failings in the investigation of Stephen Lawrence’s murder, has stalled in many areas. The MPs warned that at the current rate of progress, police forces in England and Wales will not be properly representative for another 20 years.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper, who chairs the committee, said: ‘We have found that in too many areas progress has stalled and for too long there has been a lack of focus and accountability on race equality in policing.’ The report highlighted that ethnic disproportionality in stop and search is now worse than it was 22 years ago, with no evidence adequately explaining the scale of the disparity.
The committee recommended the creation of a new statutory race equality commissioner for policing and a race equality steering group chaired by the Home Secretary. Policing minister Kit Malthouse acknowledged that ‘much more’ needs to be done, despite claiming good progress since the Macpherson report.
