IN FEBRUARY of this year, we saw the sacking of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick which was kind of inevitable. Dick of the Yard was a traditionalist and a small ‘c’ conservative; she embodied all the worst aspects of narrow-minded, blinkered hard-nosed policing delivered through the stereotypical and magnifying lens of institutional police racism.  

The views of London Black communities are clear; any new Commissioner will need to address the humongous elephant in the room – and that is institutional racism. 

With the Met shortlisting interviews happening imminently, we’re issuing this open invitation to the reported two shortlisted candidates to meet London’s Black communities on June 16^th 2022 at 6.30 pm at the IDPAD Empowerment Centre 18-24 Lower Clapton Road, London E5 0PD. 

What is the APA? 

First, a little bit about the newly formed Alliance of Police Accountability (APA) that I am proud to chair. It’s a consortium of organisations such as Black Men 4 Change, Action for Race Equality, Voyager, Blaksox, the National Black Police Association and a range of expert community organisations. 

APA is a powerful network of African Caribbean heritage organisations to be launched later this year. It will be responsible for delivering a two-year national policing and community consultation exercise with African Caribbean heritage communities in England and Wales. 

The APA project is unique, never have Black communities nationally been appropriately consulted on what kind of policing they want.  

The other key and important question we intend to answer through the APA project is what Black communities see as our principal responsibilities in tackling serious violence. 

This will be the first time Black communities will be invited to develop a consensus on our national and local priorities on policing reform and serious violence.

For the first time, Black communities will work with the APA over two years across five cities in England and Wales to develop national and local National black policing and public health charters for change. 

One of its most important legacies is establishing a national black policing reform movement to negotiate change. 

In addition, we will be following the implementation of the recently announced National Police Chiefs Council Race Equality Action Plan and working closely together with the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board (ISOB), headed by one of our panellists at this meeting and the Chair of the ISOB, Abi Johnson. 

When it comes to racism, the Met Police has a previous form. 

The turbulent history of relations between London Black communities and Met Commissioners is replete with examples of tensions, conflict, and disaster.  

Sir Robert Mark (1972 -77) identified black communities as ‘symbolic areas’, highlighting the link between Brixton, St Pauls, Toxteth, Moss Side and Handsworth. When one of these areas goes, they all go. 

Or Sir Kenneth Newman (1982 -1987_ who took office just after the 1981 uprisings. He identified our communities as ‘no go areas for the police. On his watch, Cherry Groce happened. 

Sir Peter Imbert (1987 -1983) tried to take on the ‘canteen culture’, publishing a report’ Force for Change.’

Sir Paul Condon (1993 -2000) launched his disastrous Operation Eagle Eye targeting ‘black muggers’ and, of course, presided over the targeting of the Mangrove Community Association, All Saints Road. He was also responsible for the monumental failures in investigating the racist murders in Erith, South London, of Rolan Adams and Stephen Lawrence. 

They were followed by Sir John Stevens, Sir Ian Blair, Sir Paul Stephenson, followed by Hogan-Howe and Cressida Dick. 

What’s common to all these Commissioners’ periods of office is the issue of police racism, and each has faced career-defining problems of racism and poor relations with London’s Black communities. Of these Commissioners, the ones that enjoyed the most positive ratings in Black communities were Sir John Stevens and Sir Ian Blair. 

Dick and her predecessor, Bernard Hogan-Howe were the worst in recent times and saw the Met destroy whatever little reputation the Met had with London’s Black communities. 

They both consistently denied the existence of institutional racism and, by doing so, allowed a resurgent culture of institutional police racism to flourish. 

The consequence has been witnessed over the last decade. 

Black criminalisation rates have gone through the roof, police-community tensions have massively increased, and tragedy and abhorrent violence in arrest, stop and search particularly strip searched of children, the defilement of Nichole Smallman and Bibba Henry, the strip search of Child Q, X. Y AND Z  and the list of both offence and injury gets longer by the day. 

Most recently we heard of the horrific death in Lambeth Police Custody (the borough with the worst figures for police racism than any other London borough) of Reggae musician Ian Taylor. 

All these incidences and more have seen Black public confidence in the Met plummet to a historic new low. 

The political reality is apparent; any Commissioner who chooses to ignore institutional racism and fails to prioritise securing the confidence of London’s Black communities is making a defining career decision. Any new Commissioner who denies the reality of institutional racism will be opposed one day one of taking office. 

APA Hackney Consultation.

The majority of Londoners, such as women, Black and Muslim communities and Lesbian and Gay communities, have all united in their condemnation of the Metropolitan Police’s failure to tackle systemic institutional policing discrimination. 

On the 20th of June 2022, the Home Secretary and the Mayor of London will gather in a non-descript part of Whitehall to interview two white men shortlisted for the post of New Met Commissioner.  

Earlier this year, the APA held a massively successful public and online consultation with London’s Black communities, with over 4,000 people. Along with a panel of experts, we constructed an essential crib sheet of critical experience needed by the new Commissioner. 

In April, we wrote to the Home Secretary, pointing out that, given the current crisis in confidence, particularly among Black communities and women, we needed to be part of the requirement, selection, and interview processes for the new Commissioner.  

Of course, we were refused. We had more success meeting the Mayor of London’s Office, who demonstrated a keen understanding of community confidence in the recruitment process. 

Who is the next Met Commissioner is one of the most critical decisions for the UK at a crucial time in the nation’s post-Brexit development. 

We’re issuing this open invitation to the shortlisted candidates Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave and Mark Rowley, the opportunity to demonstrate they at least understand the depth of the crisis and the importance of hearing from London’s black communities. 

With increasing social tension, dislocation and social unrest are likely to emerge due to new draconian policing legislations. As a result, we will see more conflict, combined with the cost-of-living crisis and the tanking of the economy. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the decision about who now leads the Met is critically essential. 

What we believe. 

London’s Black communities’ view is crystal clear; we believe the Met is institutionally racist police service. This is evidenced by the catastrophic drop in public trust in the Met by London’s African, Asian, and ethnic minority communities and the growing disproportionate use of police powers that racially profile and unfairly target our communities. 

Unfortunately, in today’s current social, economic, and political climate, we can discern many of the same critical issues long identified by Lords Scarman and McPherson and last seen in 2011. 

I believe these issues left unaddressed by any new Commissioner will result in a repeat of history. Unless we see a paradigm shift in analysis, understanding and approach, we will undoubtedly see mass uprisings across England and Wales some 40 odd years after Brixton 1981. 

We can, though, avoid the potential for conflict by ensuring that any new Commissioner is not ‘Continuity Cress’. That would be a disaster. 

There must be a clean break and clear blue daylight between Dicks toxic approach and the new Commissioner. 

Whatever the political views of the Home Secretary Priti Patel and Boris Johnson about institutional racism, the new Commissioner of the Met needs to be very clear on the need for operational independence and the priority of restoring trust and confidence. Get this wrong, and London and the country will eventually pay a heavy price as we did back in 2011. 

And just as a footnote and a warning from history to the candidates. Any Commissioner who has not accepted the reality of institutional racism has seen their careers mired in controversy, sometimes failing and disgrace.

More importantly, that fundamental error has seen injustice, life-changing injuries, 

Book now to attend the meeting in person; limited space is available. First come, first served. 

Limited in-person spaces are available to book via Eventbrite. 

If you can’t make it in person, then take part and watch online on via the Medianet YouTube and Facebook channels. 

Lee Jasper, former Policing Director for London, and Chair of the APA,