Scottish Government

Pride and Prejudice: A Review of police Race Relations in Scotland

Chapter 5 Community

Introduction

5.1 A guiding principle contained within the ACPOS Racial Diversity Strategy ³⁸ is the need to engage the community. This includes sharing information and concerns between the community and the police, creating focused and productive partnerships, and developing mutual understanding and agreement.

5.2 During this Inspection, evidence was gathered across Scotland of a great deal of initiative and effort being devoted to this ongoing challenge.

5.3 Key issues identified during the inspection for maintaining momentum, and incorporated in this chapter, are the strength of consultation and community involvement, dealing with endemic crime, and working with partners in pursuit of community cohesion. Also considered are the benefits of advances in policing, including the National Intelligence Model (NIM) and critical incident management. Tensions arising externally from international or national events, or internally from issues such as police attitude or police search tactics are also addressed.

Lay Advisory Groups

5.4 Examples of consultation and interaction are manifold, with the majority of forces and the Scottish Police College having established Lay Advisory Groups. Visiting and meeting these Groups was an important aspect of the HMIC inspection programme. They were found to vary considerably in their evolution, composition and role, designed as they are to address local circumstances and needs. They are clearly proving to be a good source of ongoing advice and have made a significant contribution to most race equality schemes and numerous other race issues.

5.5 It is recognised that while they have an important part to play they can only supplement much broader and deeper interaction with minority ethnic communities. However, their contribution and potential is significant and there is now benefit in Forces sharing the best practice from their lay advisory initiatives to ensure maximum benefit is accrued throughout the Scottish police service from this welcome advance.

Consolidation of established liaison

5.6 Forces have also shown good initiative in consolidating most established liaison. This includes places of worship, community leaders, local Race Equality Councils, other local and national networks for minority ethnic people, businesses, community groups and individuals. Such liaison has been productive and was particularly useful in assisting the police response following the terrorist attacks in the United States of America on September 11 2001 in providing help and reassurance to concerned minority ethnic groups.

5.7 While such networking is positive, HMIC found some inconsistency in maintaining contact and less than robust feedback to management in some forces. A standard approach utilising the National Intelligence Model is explored at Paragraph 5.31 of this Chapter.

5.8 Forces have been positive in dealing with the change brought about by the Commission for Racial Equality's modernisation of local race equality delivery. This has impacted massively on local race equality councils and significantly affected their relationships with local police forces. In some areas, the local race equality council continues to deliver a range of services, reflecting the strength, quality and flexibility of the organisation. In other areas, the local race equality council has ceased to function altogether. Efforts have been made to help minimise any diminution of service delivery to ensure contact and local joint working have been preserved as much as possible. It is in the interest of forces to continue to ensure the closest working relations with evolving race equality services.

Development of consultation

5.9 There is a realisation in forces that certain key areas of consultation require to be improved. Inclusion of harder to reach groups and individuals within police contact and consultation has the potential to be very positive for police race relations.

5.10 One such issue is the interaction with minority ethnic youth. It is paramount that forces engage with these young people who may have the most negative perceptions of the service and are important stakeholders in the future of Scotland. HMIC detected some shoots of progress in this area which require to be nurtured and developed. The whole issue of engaging youth requires some creative thinking but embracing sport, culture, and the emerging minority ethnic media offer some ways ahead. Regular face-to-face contact with community and other police officers of all ranks is also paramount to enable dialogue about controversial issues such as stop search, and police attitudes.

5.11 Another group who often lack an equal voice is minority ethnic women. It is important for Forces to develop their liaison to ensure full account is taken of what women would wish from the service. The fact that this liaison has to respect cultural and religious needs and sensitivities does not preclude its importance and examples exist already that show the way ahead. Throughout Scotland individual officers have shown the quality and sometimes persistence needed to build trust and dialogue without compromising or offending any party. This deserves expansion because it is clear from the work done that women often have a significant need of police help or referral on specific issues such as racism or domestic abuse. This also provides welcome opportunities to express concerns about issues such as young people's conduct and wellbeing, drugs in society, and personal safety.

5.12 A more recent issue for the police has been the need to engage asylum seekers. This is considered in more detail in Chapter 6. Forces must embrace this challenge as asylum seekers can be amongst the most vulnerable people in our society. While consulting with this very disparate group presents particular obstacles in terms of their temporary status, disorganisation, language, culture, and previous experiences of policing, some commendable work has begun, assisted by a degree of organisation emerging amongst some groups of asylum seekers.

5.13 It is also clear that the degree of liaison and confidence the police enjoy varies from one ethnic group to another, even amongst the more established minority ethnic population. It is worthwhile for forces to consider the robustness of liaison with all ethnic groups to ensure equal quality and opportunity. Given the considerable diversity, forces will have to employ a variety of approaches and emphases, treating everyone according to their need.

5.14 There is scope within all Scottish forces to build the product of minority ethnic consultation into the planning process. The Race Equality Schemes developed under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 require to be an integral part of force planning considerations and these are examined in greater detail in Chapter 4.

Community involvement

5.15 During the Inspection a substantial amount of enthusiasm was shown by numerous members of minority ethnic groups to have even greater police involvement in community and cultural events. All expressed the view this could go a long way to building confidence and that officers involved should include senior and community staff. There should also be opportunities for officers who do not routinely enjoy the same engagement with minority ethnic people.

5.16 Police forces throughout Scotland are already committed to such events but chief constables may wish to examine ways to broaden the base of involvement and to complement the roll out of diversity training with opportunities to experience it.

5.17 HMIC was pleased to note in more rural areas and those with lower numbers of minority ethnic people that work was being done to promote contact and there was a general appreciation that if racism did take place in more remote areas then isolation could add to the distress. HMIC supports such approaches and suggests they be repeated appropriately to build confidence and ensure communication and support.

Crime

5.18 During HMIC's consultation with minority ethnic groups, a great deal of concern was expressed about endemic crime in their community which people expected the police to address. A good example of a positive response to this issue is 'Operation Gather' on the south side of Glasgow in 'G' Division of Strathclyde Police. A unit consisting of six police officers operates in the division which has a substantial number of minority ethnic people living and working there. Their remit is to deal with issues (not just crime) which affect the minority ethnic community.

5.19 This operation was set up in response to community concerns. It has been conducted with the support of the community with a good two-way exchange of information helping the process. The confidence and cultural awareness adopted have helped to develop positive race relations and improve confidence in the police. The focus has been on tackling endemic serious violence between gangs, fraud, and providing contact and reassurance to the community regarding rumours of right wing extremist activity in the area. The team's activity, with the assistance of witnesses from the community, has led to important convictions and prison sentences.

5.20 During the Unit's three years of existence, only two complaints have been raised against members of the team, neither of which alleged racism or discrimination. During the Inspection positive feedback was received about Operation Gather as it was tackling real community concerns in a professional, sensitive and inclusive way. Consultees understood potential police reticence about engaging in work which might attract complaints alleging racism but were heartened this had not happened, attributing this to the police's professional approach and community support. The work of the Unit has been commended in a local newspaper read extensively by members of the minority ethnic community and witnesses have been encouraged to come forward.

5.21 While proactive initiatives always require ongoing review, scrutiny and support, Operation Gather is creating a virtuous circle of confidence, report and action which is an example of good practice.

Community cohesion

5.22 In the spring and early summer of 2001, there were a number of disturbances in towns and cities in the north of England involving large numbers of people from different cultural backgrounds and which resulted in the destruction of property and attacks on police. Part of the UK Government response was to set up a Ministerial Group on Public Order and Community Cohesion to examine and consider how national policies might be used to promote better community cohesion, based upon shared values and a celebration of diversity. At the same time a Review Team, led by Ted Cantle, former chief executive of Nottingham City Council, was established to seek the views of local residents and community leaders in the affected towns and other parts of England on the issues which need to be addressed about social cohesion and also to identify good practice in the handling of these issues at local level.

5.23 HMIC recognises a wide raft of activity in a Scottish context on social inclusion, community planning and community safety. However, HMIC believes the findings of the Cantle Report ³⁹ are relevant to wider considerations of community cohesion. Although they derive from a set of circumstances that differ in some aspects from the current Scottish situation, there are learning points that can inform good practice in promoting positive race relations and preventing negative conditions. The following extracts provide a flavour of salient points.

5.24 The Cantle Report includes sixty seven recommendations on a variety of issues including:

5.25 There is an important emphasis in the Report on the need to involve a range of agencies. It sets out community cohesion as the goal and provides an analysis of this concept in appendix C of the Report. HMIC strongly encourages ACPOS and relevant stakeholders to examine this thinking further.

The sociological work of Forrest and Kearns is used extensively in the Cantle Report to explain community cohesion and their summary ⁴⁰ of its domains is given below.

Common values and a civic culture

• Common aims and objectives
• Common moral principles and codes of behaviour
• Support for political institutions and participation in politics

Social order and social control

• Absence of general conflict and threats to the existing order
• Absence of incivility
• Effective informal social control
• Tolerance; respect for differences; inter-group co-operation

Social solidarity and reductions in wealth disparities

• Harmonious economic and social development and common standards
• Redistribution of public finances and of opportunities
• Equal access to services and welfare benefits
• Ready acknowledgement of social obligations and willingness to assist others

Social Networks and Social Capital

• High degree of social interaction within communities and families
• Civic engagement and associational activity
• Easy resolution of collective action problems

Place Attachment and Identity

• Strong attachment to place
• Inter-twining of personal and place identity

5.26 Forrest and Kearns also suggest that the simplest observable measure of community cohesion 'would be of groups who live in a local area getting together to promote or defend some common local interest' and the analysis concludes 'to achieve community cohesion everyone must be involved, not just excluded groups'.⁴¹

5.27 Community cohesion is a term that has become increasingly popular in public policy debates especially south of the border. It is closely linked to other concepts such as inclusion and exclusion, social capital, capacity building and neighbourhood. In this way it has indirectly been a focus of a number of policies and initiatives aimed principally at reducing social exclusion. HMIC considers that community cohesion is worthy of deeper consideration in Scotland, to complement the social inclusion agenda.

5.28 From the policing perspective, this would be a major strategic bridge in developing cohesion and stability within community planning and community safety.

5.29 In addition to the Cantle Report, it would be appropriate also to consider the related Ministerial Group Report on Building Cohesive Communities ⁴² as well as the Clarke, ⁴³ Ouseley ⁴⁴ and Ritchie ⁴⁵ Reports into the disorder in Burnley, Bradford and Oldham respectively, and the action taken subsequently.

5.30 HMIC suggests there may be useful precedent in the Scottish Executive Steering Group on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report.

5.31 In contributing to positive race relations and building cohesive communities, chief constables will wish to include the recent advances in policing. HMIC considers the National Intelligence Model and Critical Incident Management to have particular value in this area.

National Intelligence Model/Critical Incident Management

5.32 An important role for the police service to play within partnerships is the ongoing assessment of community tensions and management of critical incidents. The National Intelligence Model which is currently being rolled out to Scottish forces offers a sound model on which to base this work. Amongst other things it can ensure improved awareness of concerns within the minority ethnic community, and through good communication, evaluation and action, offer an improved service.

5.33 The NIM is a policing model that has been accepted by all UK police forces as collective best practice to impact on crime and related matters. Although termed an intelligence model, it is more properly described as a policing model, of which intelligence forms one of the core strands. The NIM examines the core business of the police service, the outcomes desired, and gives a framework on which to achieve them.

POLICE BUSINESS RESULTS

5.34 The NIM operates at three levels:

LEVEL 1 LOCAL ISSUES

The problems affecting a division or small police force. These will be capable of resolution locally, or with help from other resources. Problems can be minor in nature or involve serious crime, for example, murder. However, they are concentrated locally and can be resolved within the division.

LEVEL 2 CROSS BORDER

The actions of a criminal or other specific problems affecting more than one division. Problems may affect a group of divisions, neighbouring forces or a group of forces. Issues will be capable of resolution by forces, perhaps with support from agencies such as the SDEA, NCIS, UKIS or HMCE. Key issues will be the identification of common problems, the exchange of appropriate data and the provision of resources for the common good.

LEVEL 3 SERIOUS AND ORGANISED CRIME

Usually operating in the upper echelons of crime or on a national or international scale, requiring identification by proactive means and response primarily through targeting operations by dedicated units and a preventative response on a force, Scotland-wide or national basis.

5.35 NIM is supported by Tasking and Co-ordinating operating at local, force and Scottish levels. It is designed to generate more information and subject it to quality analysis to make maximum use of it and take better decisions.

5.36 During the inspection information from minority ethnic communities and police staff introduced issues falling into all three levels, highlighting the utility of the NIM in addressing community concerns.

5.37 The opportunity should be taken to ensure community and front line officers work to develop their extensive contact base and feed community concerns back into the NIM system for evaluation and appropriate action.

5.38 During the review, HMIC noted Lancashire police in Pennine Division at Burnley had taken forward the NIM and had experience of its use in dealing with community tensions. The same part of that force also exhibits noteworthy practice in relation to the management of critical incidents defined as 'an incident where the effectiveness of the police response is likely to have a significant impact on the confidence of the victim, the family and/or community'. They recognise that it is most important that any potential incidents are managed appropriately in order to prevent any escalation of tension and/or disorder. Regular disorder risk assessments are produced which are used to negotiate within the Force for an appropriate level of resources.

5.39 Examples of critical incidents in Burnley include events such as an attack on an Asian taxi driver, the murder of a football supporter and a forthcoming parade by a right-wing political party.

5.40 It seems reasonable in Scotland to ensure the same degree of awareness and organisation, exploiting the advantages that NIM and Critical Incident Management make available. Scotland has already experienced a number of critical incidents including the murders of Imran Khan, Surjit Singh Chhokar and Firsat Dag, demonstrations and protests by minority ethnic groups, and action in response to fear of extreme right wing activity. Action was required to be taken in Scotland following September 1 1 2001 to lower community tensions and a considerable degree of awareness and reassurance was appropriate during the war in Afghanistan and in relation to other international tensions.

5.41 Full regard should be paid of linkage to the NIM, and consideration given to the noteworthy practice from Lancashire Police.

5.42 The NIM, incorporating Tasking and Co-ordinating and allied to Critical Incident Management, offers the opportunity to weave together influences from the local to the international on crime and security and ensure the appropriate response. Confidence in the police can be improved greatly when positive action is taken and seen to be taken to deal with community concerns.

Scottish Police Information and Co-ordinating Centre (S/PICC)

5.43 In response to critical incident management, S/PICC was established as the professional mechanism for inter-force co-ordination of specific operations. While S/PICC is a temporary structure for the duration of particular events, it has become an effective, standardised and consistent entity for collecting, evaluating and disseminating information and intelligence to appropriate response services. This ensures that regardless of the nature of an incident, negative impact on the life of communities in Scotland is kept to a minimum for the duration of such incidents.

5.44 The use of the S/PICC following September 11 2001 was an appropriate and useful response which assisted Scottish forces greatly in dealing with the numerous challenges that resulted and it is an option which remains available. In light of developments through NIM and Critical Incident Management it may now be appropriate to review S/PICC to ensure full account is taken of these emerging advances.

Media

5.45 In common with many other policing issues, public opinion on race relations can be affected by the media. Their copy, broadcasts and programmes can influence tensions and have to be taken into account in modern day policing responses. While the police certainly do not control and can only hope to positively influence the media, it is important for the police service to have a media strategy. Whenever possible this should be shared by partners and its aims must include the lowering of community tensions and the positive promotion of race relations.

5.46 Interest in international problems, racism and discrimination will always ensure race relations is a top news item and forces must be prepared to play their part with both the national and local media.

5.47 An important opportunity in Scotland is to work in partnership with the fast emerging Scottish minority ethnic media in order to communicate more directly with minority ethnic people.

Stop search

5.48 Stop search is a shorthand description of a variety of powers held by police officers to stop and, where necessary, search people or motor vehicles. There are a range of powers arising from common law and statute dealing with drugs, weapons, firearms, stolen property and the carrying of alcohol. There is also the use of non statutory or consent searches, whereby an officer can carry out a search where they have received the subject's freely given consent. At a UK level, the police action of stop search can be a controversial issue, concerns being that it can easily be manipulated and result in abuses of individuals' human rights. It can become particularly contentious when the powers are used or appear to be used to target a particular group in society, notably minority ethnic young people.

5.49 In 2002 the Scottish Executive Central Research Unit published a report on police stop and search in Scotland. ⁴⁶ This followed research commissioned by the Scottish Executive in response to a recommendation by the steering group set up by the Justice Minister to consider the implications for Scotland arising from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report. ⁴⁷

5.50 There is a range of findings from this research. In terms of the overall impact of stop and search in Scotland at present there is little evidence that the issue has a particularly high profile. It was however noted that stop search is immensely controversial in England and Wales and indeed there was some evidence from the research that it is regarded in Scotland as an English issue. Overall, the number of searches recorded on minority ethnic people was lower then might be expected given their resident populations in the three areas studied - parts of Glasgow, Dundee and Edinburgh. No evidence was gathered to suggest people from minority ethnic groups are being targeted for stop search activities.

5.51 Of concern was anecdotal evidence that many young people from minority ethnic and white communities appear alienated from the police, do not trust them, and feel they are being harassed. Poor examples by individual officers are highlighted in the research. There is also little understanding of stop search powers among members of the public generally, and in addition, in the view of police officers (supported by findings in discussion with community members) no real understanding of the operational issues affecting police officers which may lead to misunderstanding.

5.52 There was also the suggestion of a worrying issue that some officers may be avoiding contact with people from minority ethnic communities for fear they will be labelled 'racist'.

5.53 The research is currently being considered by the Scottish Executive and HMIC looks forward to the outcome. Meanwhile, chief constables may wish to consider a number of issues:

• The lack of understanding of police stop search powers and related operational issues by the public may be an appropriate issue to consider as part of the overall review of communications with minority ethnic communities recommended in Chapter Three.
• It is also appropriate for chief constables to consider the method that could best be applied to gather information on stop search, including the ethnicity of the subject, should this emerge as an obligation. Experience in England has shown this to be challenging, with the inherent bureaucracy leading to issues of integrity and assertions of diminished operational effectiveness. There is also the issue of data which may lack accuracy and result in misleading information which may in turn have a negative effect on police race relations. Chief constables should seek a process which is simple, transparent and capable of supervision and audit to ensure full integrity.
• If full monitoring is not applied or if substantial delay is anticipated in creating a suitable system, then chief constables may wish to discuss with the Scottish Executive, a repeat of the research project to examine any trends, including any inference of discrimination.
• It is also appropriate chief constables consider the confidence levels of staff in dealing with members of the minority ethnic community. It was clear during the inspection that minority ethnic people wish, amongst other things, for police staff to be fully confident in their interaction with minority ethnic people and their issues. There was also comment from police staff that in certain circumstances levels of confidence could be improved. Officers were concerned about understanding the different cultures, giving offence, and the implications of complaints against them from minority ethnic people. Offering a practical model to combine with training, Operation Gather outlined earlier in this chapter is an example of good practice where this issue was addressed successfully.

Summary

5.54 This chapter identifies strategic issues on race and community relations. Ultimately, police race relations stands or falls on the relationship between the police and the community. It is the critical test of all the policies, procedures and practices which police organisations undertake to strengthen their race relations. HMIC offers the recommendations contained within this chapter, particularly those on community cohesion, as the next steps to be taken.