THE UK’s Police Race Action Plan must be restructured if it is to help eradicate racism from UK policing, the chair of the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board has told The Voice.

The Police Race Action Plan was launched to help police build better relationships with Britain’s black communities, following the murder of George Floyd in the US, in May 2020. 

But according to BBC Newsnight, the initiative to tackle racism in policing in England and Wales has been accused of being racist by former black members of staff who worked on the programme.

According to reports, the views of black staff were ignored and they were seen as “troublemakers or difficult” for sharing their views.

Abimbola Johnson, is the Chair of the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board for the Police Race Action Plan.

She told The Voice, it is “disheartening” but not surprising to hear about the about the experiences of black staff.

She said: “I’m not surprised to hear about the experiences of black members of staff and black officers within the programme because it replicates the structure of policing.”

Ms Johnson said the requirements to be a part of the race action plan were very specific, which meant many black officers were shut out of participating and she therefore “raised concerns” very early on.

She said: “The organisational chart of the programme is quite hierarchical.

“There were stipulations that were set that those who were going to be in decision-making and leadership positions needed to have a certain rank before they could be considered for those positions.”

Ms Johnson said such requirements would automatically exclude black officers and staff who are known to be “under promoted in policing.”

She added: “That in itself narrowed the scope of black officers and staff to sit in for higher positions within the hierarchy of the plan.

“So inevitably, what you see is the programme structure that the black officers and staff are concentrated at the bottom of the pyramid.”

She added that one of the areas the plan aims to tackle is “internal culture” and “inclusivity” within policing.

Ms Johnson criticised the structure of the anti-racism programme which has meant “the black and brown officers and staff sitting at the bottom doing the day-to-day work of trying to implement this plan, trying to liaise with communities and trying to bring local forces along with the work, but they having to hand over the decision-making to senior officers.”

Ms Johnson described senior officers as “very busy” and lacking in “administrative” support.

She emphasised that a “restructuring” of the programme is urgently needed if it is to be effective across the UK.

Ms Johnson said more care needs to be given to black officers and staff who are doing “anti-racism work” within policing.

She added: “If you are black and you are doing anti-racism work there is this psychological and emotional burden that comes with doing  that, and particularly if you are doing it in an institution which recognises itself that it has an issue with racism which is why the race action programme exists.

“We raised concerns about the pastoral care that might be needed for those who are in those positions and the need for those who sit in any sort of management position to be very astute to issues of racism and to be very astute to exhibiting their function in a truly anti-racist manner.”

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) developed the race action plan with the College of Policing.

The NPCC’s chairman and Police Race Action Plan lead, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, told the BBC he was passionate about delivering “an anti-discrimination, anti-racist police service”.

Ms Johnson said her observations have been “well-received” by Mr Stephen’s and supported by the staff on the plan.

She told The Voice, she is having discussions about the restructuring of the programme so black officers and staff can get their voices heard.

She added: “This is meant to be a transformative programme and you can’t transform policing by just replicating what it’s done before because that is where the issues lie.

“It’s really important to look at racism as institutional when you are trying to tackle these things.

“Macpherson spoke about the fact it’s the procedures, it’s the processes, its structures, its systems that allow racism to permeate and to fester in organisations.

“You can’t use the same systems, procedures and processes within the Race Action Plan if you are trying to eradicate racism.”