Written submission from Kevin Maxwell (MPR0009)

Summary

•    The police service remains an institution that has not learned the lessons of the past

•    It continues to discriminate against black, Asian and minority ethnic people

•    It consistently fails to recruit and keep minority officers, exacerbating the racial imbalance of the Force

•    It has not succeeded in addressing the impact of its policies (e.g. stop and search) on ethnic minorities, or its place in wider society following increased anxiety around immigration and global terrorism

Introduction

Kevin Maxwell MA FRSA is a writer and advocate of social justice and equality. Prior to this, he served as a police detective with the Greater Manchester Police criminal investigation department and London’s Metropolitan Police counter terrorism command. His debut book, about his time serving in two of Britain’s biggest Forces, will be published by Granta Books in spring 2020.

This evidence is submitted with the intention of focussing on the structural and systemic shortcomings of the police force, rather than on individuals. Kevin believes that the police can be a force for good and hopes that open public debate, like with this inquiry, will encourage the police to take greater responsibility for their mistakes.

Submission

Kevin Maxwell, a mixed-race gay child born into a working class Liverpool Catholic family had dreamt of being a police officer since he was a boy. Despite living through the Toxteth riots in the 1980s, witnessing the intense police brutality of the riot officers, and experiencing prejudiced treatment from uniform officers while growing up, Kevin was determined that he wanted to join the Force and make a difference. He was in two cadet forces, rising to the highest rank, excelling, and demonstrated throughout his youth the initiative, intelligence, commitment and generosity that police forces throughout the country sought and praised.

It was days after his fifteen birthday that Kevin learnt that black teenager Stephen Lawrence had been murdered in a racially motivated attack in south east London.[1] Whilst Kevin was at university in Manchester, the public inquiry into Stephen’s death, headed by Sir William Macpherson, was held. It examined Scotland Yard’s investigation of Stephen’s murder, and concluded that the investigation had failed Stephen and his family because the Force was institutionally racist. Paul Condon, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, vehemently denied this was the case despite senior members of the Black Police Association who gave evidence to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry saying the police should ‘name and shame’ senior officers who were not prepared to act against racism in an article[2] for the BBC. By contrast, David Wilmot, the new chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, described his Force as being ‘infected by institutional racism’.[3] Kevin knew police chiefs almost never spoke out like this, as it was perceived as undermining public confidence, and felt more confident in Greater Manchester Police.

Buoyed by Wilmot’s comments, Kevin joined the Police Service of England and Wales in Manchester, three months after the 9/11 attacks. Following chief constable Wilmot’s comments at the inquiry, the GMP (which had always struggled to attract minority recruits) started a major recruitment drive for more black and minority ethnicity applicants, but Kevin was still one of only 40 minority male officers out of 8,000.

At the time of Wilmot speaking out, Manchester's black and Asian communities, of which Kevin was part, were suffering high levels of racially motivated hate crimes and harassment. An estimated 21,000 became victims that year and each year after. Wilmot’s fairer, improved Force in Manchester was, Kevin considered, the perfect place to impact meaningful change and help the communities suffering from racial discrimination from the Force. Sir William Macpherson said, “The need to re-establish trust between minority ethnic communities and the police is paramount ... seeking to achieve trust and confidence through a demonstration of fairness will not in itself be sufficient. It must be accompanied by a vigorous pursuit of openness and accountability.”[4]

In Dark Blue, Kevin’s book, he documents day-to-day life from his training to the years he spent in active service on the Force as a black, gay officer, combining deeply affecting memoir with piercing analysis. The memoir describes the racism and homophobia Kevin experienced from the very first day. He was a constable when the BBC One documentary, The Secret Policeman[5], aired. The Secret Policeman exposed the endemic racism towards black and Asian members of the public (and police officers of colour) perpetrated by white officers. The programme was filmed at Bruche, the same training facility Kevin attended. The corporation commissioned the film after the ‘institutional racism’ comments made by David Wilmot. The documentary covered the internal reaction to the inquiry that followed the murder of Stephen, exposing shocking attitudes towards minority ethnicities and attempts to address structural racism. Kevin recognised much of the harmful ‘canteen culture’ banter from his own experiences with the GMP.

The footage was a brutal exposé. The public saw the police routinely denigrating ethnic minorities. One officer dressed up as a member of the US white extremist cult, Ku Klux Klan, and was recorded claiming that the gang who murdered Stephen did their country a service. He described the Macpherson report as: “A fucking kick in the bollocks for any white man.” Another officer was recorded as saying, “If you did not discriminate and you did not bring out your prejudices you would be a shit copper.” Bill Morris, the trade union leader, who later wrote a report about racism in the Metropolitan Police, commented: “Anyone who watched will be appalled at the depth of racism among public servants serving a multi-ethnic community.”[6] It later emerged[7] that Special Branch had sent an email to officers asking for information on anyone intending to give evidence at the inquiry, demonstrating their desire to quash any dissent in the ranks.

Kevin, in the meantime, had risen to the challenge of helping revolutionise the police service for a fairer future; he was determined not to allow the treatment he had received prevent him from becoming the best officer he could, and improving his situation with his colleagues. On his division, he co-ordinated and implemented the Race Equality Scheme which emphasised the general and specific duties of staff under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000. He bore witness to the police’s lackadaisical response. Like most race initiatives forced on the police by the government to meet statutory duties, they only worked if the police wanted them to. Positive action schemes do not work as long as members of the Force remain diversity-hostile and resilient to meaningful diversity training.

After becoming a detective, Kevin applied to transfer to the Metropolitan Police, believing that he would face less discrimination in the more diverse and inclusive capital. His workplace was Special Branch at Heathrow airport. Unfortunately, Kevin experienced much of the same prejudice in London as he had done in Manchester. There was a striking dissonance between the Met’s portrayed values, the ones which had encouraged him to join this Force, and its actual culture. After eight years of dedication and loyalty to the police, the discrimination Kevin faced during his career led to him falling seriously ill and being diagnosed with severe reactive depression due to his prolonged exposure to the situations at work.

Kevin’s experiences at the Metropolitan Police are on the public record. He gave Evidence about his experiences to the Home Affairs Committee on Leadership and Standards in the Police.[8] He took the Met to an employment tribunal, succeeding in proving that, though the Met denied that it was still racist, it remained, thirteen years after the Macpherson Report, a racist institution unwilling to be held accountable for its actions. Claudia Webbe, the former Chair of the Met’s Operation Trident wrote[9] about notable lack of progress since the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: “Black police staff, both officers and personnel, describe to me a police service that is designed to break you physically, mentally and spiritually.”

The Secret Policeman Returns[10], a Panorama programme that aired five years after the original The Secret Policeman, surveyed black officers. It found that 72% had experienced racism at work, 60% felt their career had been hindered by their ethnicity, and 61% said things had stayed the same or got worse. In 2012, the BBC completed a Freedom of Information request to the Met, and found that internal complaints of racism among officers had trebled in five years.[11] Home Office research had previously found that across the country, black officers are more likely to face disciplinary hearings and punishments are more severe than those for other officers.[12] These issues persist to this day. Despite lip service and recruitment drives for more minority ethnicity officers, the Force struggles to support and keep its new minority ethnicity employees. For those that do apply, they are twice as likely to be rejected than white applicants. Those who manage to get in find that progression is hard, and many are overlooked for promotion. Officers of colour leave the Force – or are fired – before their thirty years’ are up. Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic officers represent[13] just 6.3% of all officers in England and Wales when 14% of the population is BAME. Just 1% of chief officers[14] self-defined as BAME. London, a global city, is 40% non-white, yet, its police force is 86% white. Prior to the FoI request the Metropolitan Police were compelled to reveal there were 2,720 complaints of racism over a five year period, from members of the public.[15]

Responding to figures about the disproportionate number of black and Asian people being stopped and searched by the police, the Lawrence family's solicitor Imran Khan had said, “We may have individual officers who have taken on board the recommendations from the Lawrence inquiry –  but it has not produced a structural change.”[16] Again, these issues persist to this day. As a black person, you are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched for any reason – a figure that has more than doubled since the report into Stephen’s murder[17]; 3 times more likely to be arrested and 3 times more likely to be tasered.[18] “The disproportionate number of deaths of black and brown people in incidents with the police shows that structural racism remains rooted in the fabric of British society,” said a panel of United Nations human rights experts. Noting that there had never been a successful prosecution of a police officer for a death in police custody, the panel said: “This points to the lack of accountability and the impunity with which law enforcement and state agencies operate.”[19]

Many people who are not black and/or have never worked for the police say the Force is no longer institutionally racist. Kevin’s book disproves this, 20 years after the Macpherson report. Racism remains widespread in the police. Officers are routinely not disciplined following complaints about racist behaviour. In yet another report[20] about racism in the Met, the former-named Independent Police Complaints Commission said that Met investigators were often wrongly rejecting allegations of racism simply on the basis of an officer’s denial. Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches’ programme highlighted the failings within the police when it came to racism.[21] The Met – which polices the country’s most diverse city – upheld just 20 out of 4,730 allegations of racism, or 0.4 per cent. Three forces – Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and Lancashire – upheld none of the allegations reported to them, which at Manchester was over 500. There is no deterrent to stop the bad behaviour.  The leadership’s strategy to improving policing has always been characterised by box-ticking and lip service, and never implemented with urgency or compulsion. Kevin believes only those outside the police can drag the Force into the 21st century, and people in positions of power and influence must be prepared to speak out and up.

Failure to address these problems will simply create further division, as evinced by the aftermath of the report. After eighteen years of fighting for justice, Stephen's mother, Doreen, spoke after the conviction of two of her son’s killers: “The fact is that racism and racist attacks are still happening in this country and the police should not use my son’s name to say that we can move on.” Neville, Stephen’s father, also spoke: “You would think, after 19 years, people would have learned some kind of lessons … Any black man or woman wanting to join the Met today would still have to know what they were letting themselves in for.”[22]

Conclusion

Kevin joined the police three months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York. He served during the London Bombings. He saw how this new global terrorism had a significant and detrimental impact on policing. Much Islamophobia followed, in line with the ‘war on terror’ rhetoric. There was a continued backlash towards immigrant communities. Kevin witnessed how this kind of terrorism committed by a nearly unmeasurable minority of so-called Muslims, together with mass immigration and increasing police powers, were a racialised recipe for disaster, more so in a service that was still systemically and structurally racist towards non-white people. As a person of colour and detective, he understood the deeper consequences of the actions many of his white colleagues took and the effects it was having on minority Britons.

Furthermore, Kevin has personally experienced the racism and prejudice that informs the culture of policing. Reporting after the employment tribunal appeal by the Met police commissioner, The Times said Kevin was, “Every inch the model of a 21st-century policeman: black, gay, intelligent, articulate, a university graduate from a working-class background in inner city Liverpool. There was barely a box in the diversity dictionary he couldn’t tick.”[23] He had a strong moral compass, and a clear aptitude for both the strategic and practical aspects of policing. And yet, as a black, gay man he was hounded out of the job he loved. He entered policing determined to keep communities safe in the face of a changing world. But instead, from the outset, he came up against entrenched prejudice, open racism and homophobia.

Recommendations

The very structure of the police and archaic culture needs to undergo a transformation. Real police reform is urgently needed to fundamentally change the conduct and culture of the Force. As an institution and as individuals, the police are avoiding their collective responsibility and accountability to the public. Equally, it is hard to be a good officer in a negative environment with quotas and targets - performance indicators. Kevin’s hope is that London and elsewhere will one day have a police force that serves all of the people, and not just a few. To make this possible, the police need to examine hard truths. They need to actively listen and accept criticism, even where this means losing face.

January 2019