A major investigation into the extent of racial discrimination in the British police has been launched in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, the independent complaints body targeting the police announced on Friday 10 July. order. " Having an independent eye and an evidence base will help the police learn and improve when necessary, " said Michael Lockwood, director general of the Independent Office of Police Behavior (IOPC).
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He said he wanted to help the police " regain the public's trust ", which has long been affected by " evidence of the disproportionate use of their powers ". The investigation will initially cover data relating to arrests, searches and the use of force vis-à-vis ethnic minorities. The IOPC will also investigate whether the police “ did not take complaints seriously ” or denied victims the status of people because they were from these minorities.
" It's about identifying good and bad practices, and seeing where we can make real changes, " said Michael Lockwood. According to him, the IOPC will also collect " more " complaints against the police for discrimination, of which " most " of the 32,000 annual cases are currently handled by the police themselves.
Institutionally racist London police say report
The UK was rocked by anti-racism protests by the Black Lives Matter, sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black American who was suffocated by a white police officer when he was arrested in the United States. In this context, several cases of alleged police abuse against minorities caused outrage.
London police chief Cressida Dick apologized this week to British sprinter Bianca Williams for the " suffering " caused by her arrest, followed by a search in which the police found nothing . In 1999, a report qualified the London police as institutionally racist for having killed six years earlier a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, triggering an outcry which had led to a review of the institution. According to a study by the London School of Economics (LSE) in 2018, black people are eight times more likely to be arrested and searched than white people.
