Head of police action plan on race has never seen an officer being racist – The Independent

The head of a national police action plan on race has said she has never personally seen an officer been racist.

Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Amanda Pearson said she couldnt readily think of an example of racism in the force, which saw an officer convicted of joining a neo-Nazi terrorist group this year.

She is leading a plan of action on inclusion and race announced by the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) after the murder of George Floyd in the US sparked huge Black Lives Matter protests in Britain.

Speaking at a NPCC conference in Westminster on Friday, Ms Pearson was pressed on whether she had witnessed any incident involving colleagues being racist throughout her career.

Im being honest and saying I havent seen that, she said. Clearly there are incidents of racism that are happening in policing, all Im saying is that I havent personally seen them.

Ms Pearson said she was not suggesting that racism doesnt exist among officers, adding: We know there are individual acts of racism conducted by officers, weve seen officers dismissed from service for racist behaviour and I wouldn't deny there are disparities within policing.

An anonymous member of the audience, which included senior officers and police and crime commissioners from across the country, asked how an action plan on race could be led by someone who has never seen an act of racism in their entire career.

Ms Pearson replied: I dont profess to have the lived experience some of my colleagues will have had in policing but I think its beholden on all of us to actively pursue creating a police service that can be truly anti-racist.

She later said she had noticed that senior black and ethnic minority officers were not being given the same level of support that a white officer would have.

The action plan was announced in June 2020 but the conference was told that it was still in draft form and would not be released this year.

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Head of police action plan on race has never seen an officer being racist - The Independent