Has the Met improved since the damning MacPherson report?
"Police are humans. They have off days as well. You as young people can't tar every police officer with the same brush."
| We’ve come here today to speak to you. Maybe five years ago we wouldn’t have. |
Those are the views of Inspector Cheryl Burdon. She's part of the Diversity Directorate at the Metropolitan Police and a senior member of the team responsible for improving police relations with the black community.
It was just three years ago that the Met was branded "institutionally racist" in the MacPherson report into the killing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Cheryl Burdon, one of the few senior black officers in the force, passionately believes in what she does: "I've been in this organisation for 17 years and if it was rotten to the core I wouldn't be here."
But she realises the police face an uphill struggle: "I'm not a robot. I'm impacted on by my surroundings.
Impact
"As a professional I've got to try and keep that out of the way. It only takes one officer to do one bad stop and search and that will have an impact on the rest of the community."
Her colleague, Detective Chief Inspector David Tucker, agrees that the police face a tough challenge:"The MacPherson report represented for us a low point in police relations with ethnic minority communities. We've got to work hard to come on from there. We've made enormous strides. But there's still so much to do."
His biggest frustration is when he hears that nothing seems to have changed, pointing out that every officer in the Met now undergoes community and race relations training. The Met now seems acutely aware of the importance of good public relations: "We've come here today to speak to you. Maybe five years ago we wouldn't have. We feel it's important to get our message across."
Whilst we were impressed at being given an hour with two senior police officers, we still felt our questions were never fully answered or our concerns satisfactorily addressed. We felt we needed more answers on vital issues.
Inspector Burdon insisted that the police alone are not responsible for any breakdown in relations with the public: "The community deserves a professional service. But we want to be met half way to solve all the problems. The community at large has to play their part and they play a very important role in improving the confidence that London's diverse groups have in the police."
David Tucker agrees: "Trust is the key word. If we trust each other we can achieve so much. You as a community have to trust us more. It can't all come from the police side."
It's good that senior officers are aware that change is needed. But we were concerned at the lack of regret expressed for what had gone on in the past. We believe the London black community has lost so much confidence in the police and the Met needs to come a lot further than 'half way' to gain our trust.
Inspector Burdon added that lack of sympathy towards the police can affect the way officers react: "If individual young people are hostile towards the police two or three times then the police officer gets a negative perception of the people they're stopping. And so the next black youth they stop they will be negative towards that individual."
Attitude
But she stressed that the public in general don't mind being stopped and searched by officers: "What they have got an issue with is how they are stopped, the attitude of the officer, the officer not telling them why they're being stopped and being delayed for an extended period of time."
While accepting that individual police officers are "only human" we feel they're paid to be professional and objective, and there can be no excuse for randomly stopping and searching young black people.
And where does the assumption come from that the community doesn't mind stop and search?
The Met has a target of getting 25 per cent of its officers from the ethnic minorities by 2010. Currently that figure stands at just four per cent. Detective Chief Inspector Tucker admits they have their work cut out. He says: "If you think the Met is a racist organisation then you're not going to want to join us. If you see an organisation that is 96% white, you're not going to see it as a viable career option."
We accept that a lot of stories spread about police harassment are just hearsay but, despite everything we've heard, remain unconvinced that the willingness is there to bring about the changes needed. We felt the officers we interviewed really didn't relate to us as young people. We felt patronised and we certainly didn't want to hear how we as journalists should conduct ourselves.
We arrived wanting an interview about police harassment, but left with a desire simply to write about these officers general inability to relate to young people.
We were concerned at the lack of specific solutions on offer to improve youth relations. Surely a London-wide police/youth forum would be essential for breaking down barriers?
Without a doubt the MacPherson report has given the Metropolitan Police a wake up call. On the evidence of this interview, the Met still seems to be tucked up under its duvet.
About the team
This story was produced by Klarisse Osei, 14, Gillian Antwi-Bosiako, 15, and Tinu Adeniji-Adele, 18. It was published as part of Teen Talk, the Children's Express page in the New Nation.
