Expert: Phil Woodford - 6/11/2004

Question
how have the police service taken steps to avoid discriminating against elements in britain.not the recruitment into the police service

Answer
Hi Karen

This is not an area in which I claim any specialist knowledge, but following the Macpherson Report into the death of Stephen Lawrence that accused the police of 'institutional racism', most forces will have acted to change their policies and procedures.  In the UK, each force is independent, so what the Met has done in London may differ considerably from the steps taken in, say, Cambridgeshire or Surrey.  It might be worth visiting the individual websites of police services to see what they say about issues of discrimination.

These problems are, of course, not new.  Back in the 1980s, policing policy was strongly implicated in the riots that took place in Brixton and elsewhere around the country.  Various steps were taken then to ensure fairer treatment of different sections of the community.  'Lay visiting' (now called Independent Custody Visiting) was introduced, for instance.  This allows independent members of the public to check up on the welfare of detainees in police stations.

I am sorry not to be able to answer in more detail, but this is a very specific area and outside my general political brief on allexperts.

Best wishes

Phil W