Police not institutionally racist despite Dawn Butler stop, says senior officer

Dawn Butler was recently stopped in a car by Met Police
UK Parliament
Kit Heren22 August 2020

A senior mixed-race officer has said he does not believe policing is institutionally racist despite criticism over the recent vehicle stop of Labour MP Dawn Butler.

Met Police has received much criticism over the stop. The leader of the National Black Police Association said this week that the incident was “rooted in a biased system that views black people as criminals or drug dealers”.

But Che Donald, national vice-chair of the Police Federation, has said body-camera footage of the stop showed officers were “professional and courteous”.

He wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “However, because of the nature of the stop, the profile of the occupant and the media coverage, the focus of debate has been on the officers, rather than on whether the incident itself was legitimate, proportionate and without prejudice or bias.

“When we start to review incidents in this way, seeking to further the proposition that the police are guilty of racial profiling or institutional racism, it is inevitable that personal interpretations will play a role, whether they are supported by the evidence or not.”

Dawn Butler MP (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Mr Donald, who wrote he identifies as mixed race and experienced racism growing up in South Africa, added: “I do not personally take the view that policing is institutionally racist, yet I do believe that we should do far more to address the policies and procedures which create the perception that it is.”

It comes as new figures suggested the majority of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people feel there is bias against them within police forces and that they are treated more harshly in courts.

Around two thirds (65 per cent) of ethnic minority communities in Britain surveyed for charity Hope Not Hate feel members of the police are biased against them.

Ms Butler has criticised policing measures that disproportionately affect black people, like stop-and-search.

She told the Standard earlier in August: "We police by consent in this country and there’s a growing unease around stop-and-search.

"It’s not actually a very successful tool, it only has a 15 per cent success rate and creates a lot of animosity."

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