By Gabriel Princewill-
The Home Office has said that it expects the perpetrators of racism and other forms of hate crime to be brought to justice, but fell short of adding that provision should be made for this to occur in a court of law when it meets the legal threshold of a hate crime.
Its expectation for legal recourse was nonetheless implied, even if not expressly stated.
The welcome statement from the Home Office on behalf of the Home Secretary, Suella Braverman,(pictured) followed a push for accountability by this organisation with respect to why the Race Relations Act 1966, which makes discrimination on the grounds of race a prosecutable offence, appeared to be overlooked by the police force in the multiple instances where expressly racist conduct by serving police officers had been brought to the public domain.
Braverman herself has shamefully never openly acknowledged that racism and homophobia is institutional in the police force, but multi -faceted plans appear to be in place to combat, eliminate, and prevent unsavoury individuals from joining a group of professionals appointed with the duty of enforcing the law .
The expected transition from a polluted force to a dignified and representative one provides cause for some degree of optimism.
The Home Office was responding to an inquiry made by The Eye Of Media.Com after a clash with one of its irresponsible press officers in October 2022 led to a showdown in which the call was dropped by the unscrupulous officer, who withheld his identity, twice , then once more, by one of his female colleagues, who was clearly taking misguided instructions from him to behave so reprehensibly.
Since then, this publication have occasionally contacted the Home Office to inquire whether an internal investigation relating to an official complaint we raised has been undertaken.
Quite alarming was the fact the imprudent press officer in question did not envisage the damage he was doing to the integrity of the department that hired him.
His conduct led to speculation from professional analysts observing the incident as to whether such conduct could be indicative of mental health issues by stressed out personnel, not well primed to handle what they may perceive as challenging press inquiries.
It alternatively could have been a reflection of foolish sensitivity on the part of the unscrupulous press officer to racial issues.
The sudden breakdown in communication occurred as we probed the reason many police officers in the British police force caught being racist over the years have never been prosecuted, but merely dealt with internally.
Our probe followed the persistent display of racism against ethnic minorities by serving police officers in the police force in the past two years, resulting in mere dismissals without any accountability sought in a court of law.
Last week, we exposed the Home Office’s head of communications ,Craig Saunders, for both deception and dishonourable conduct on his part when handling our inquiry. His has unarguably been found unfit to head the department’s press office, and this publication will eventually campaign for his removal, if he remains in his post without good reason.
The recent report from Baroness Casey declaring the force to be institutionally racist, homophobic and misogynistic accentuated the need for urgent action,
However, this is avowedly insufficient, since the Met cannot expect to evade statutory provisions which make hate crime a criminal offence warranting prosecution.
Mission to transform Police force: Sir Mark Rowley Image:Linkedin
Survey Revealing Racial Incidents
In light of a recent survey which revealed that half of black police officers suffer racial incidents from colleagues, and following a report highlighting that a large percentage of officers guilty of racism and homophobia are not dismissed, this publication was pressed to embark on an assessment on the commitment of the government to stamp out racism in the police force towards the end of 2022.
This was long before Baroness Casey’s damning report exposing the true scale of discrimination in Britain’s biggest force which came to light this month.
The overarching aim of the inquiry was to see a much more respectable and honourable police force in 2023, and hold both the police force and its regulators, and The Home Office to account in the face if continued discrimination in the force,
Statutory Laws
The Home Office in its communication to The Eye Of Media.Com acknowledged a slew of statutory law against racism, purportedly confirming what it described as a” healthy framework to deal with racism”.
A statement it released pointed to the ”stirring Up Offences (sections 17 to 29N Public Order Act 1986) that criminalises the use of threatening (or in the case of racist hatred, at least ‘abusive or insulting’) words or behaviour, or the display of written material which is threatening (or in the case of race, abusive or insulting).
Inquiries made have revealed that racist jokes are not considered to meet the threshold of hostility, yet those on the receiving end of offensive jokes circulated on a social media app will intuitively perceive them to be hostile.
Some legal analysts say that subjective feeling of racist jokes unarguably brings insulting whassap messages within the ambit of the law when it comes to hate crime, yet seldom do the police present such deplorable transgression to the CPS to consider for prosecution
Police Tribunal System
Almost all officers who have transgressed the statute of hate crime have been dealt with through the police internal tribunal system, with only a sprinkling of guilty officers dealt with through the court system; usually where there is an aggravating factor of racism involved.
The Independent Police Commission( IOPC) which regulates the police force in the Uk has said the process of dismissals or resignation from the force suffices as a punitive measure for offenders.
That view hardly resonates with those in other quarters who wish to see racist and misogynistic cops brought before a court, and strictly punished according to statute.
A number of analytical experts assessing the matter say the reluctance of the police to prosecute their own is to preserve its reputation.
Some highly placed police officers hold the view that it is not in the public interest to prosecute racist police officers.
Representatives of The Crown Prosecution Services (CPS). told this publication that some offences committed by police officers would have been prosecuted had they been presented to them.
The CPS said on phone that their hands are tied by their remit which only permits them to look at cases referred to them by the police.
However, some officials from The Cps have admitted to this publication on the condition of anonymity that prosecutions would likely have been pursued had some cases dealt with by the tribunal been referred to them.
Showdown
Our inevitable showdown with the Home Office press department began after one of its press officer unceremoniously dropped the phone twice after he was told that an institutionally rAcist police force should not be trusted to present its racist officers to the Crown prosecution Service(CPS) to consider prosecutions.
This, despite the fact the Mcpherson report has long established institutional racism in the police force, following its discriminatory handling of the investigation into the unprovoked killing of Stephen Lawrence in the 90;s by four white youths.
However, the Home Office has expressed is expectation for offending police officers to be brought to justice, without explicitly commenting on any plans to direct the force to bring them before a judge.
And while no public statements have been made by Sir Mark Rowley in this regards, the Police Commissioner’s office , the CPS, and a number of media organisations, are aware of this unspoken area of further accountability.
Some senior officers believe the level of Sir Mark’s shake up in the force will make it very unlikely for any future incidences of overt racism directed at colleagues or members of the public to occur. Time will tell.
Crime And Disorder Act 1998
The Home Office’s representative pointed to the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which created a number of specific offences of racially and religiously aggravated crime, covering offences of wounding, assault, damage, stalking, harassment and threatening/abusive behaviour.
Why then has abusive racial conduct by the police met with legal impunity repeatedly over the years?
One police officer from London speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The eye of media.com that it would be too damaging for police officers to be brought before the court for racism because ”it could irreparably tarnish the credibility of the police as a force of protection for all citizens of the country if a substantial number of officers are convicted for racism”.
The source said that technically speaking all police officers should be convicted in a court of law, but ”it would not be in the public interest for a substantial number of officers to have criminal convictions for racism”.
”It would send the wrong message that the police is predominantly racist when racist officers constitute a relatively small fraction of the entire force as a whole”
Yet, the somewhat perpetual display of racism in the force reinforces this unfortunate stigma which needs to be urgently redressed to prevent damaging confidence in the force.
The continuous emergence of overtly racist police officers in the force raises legitimate questions of how the force can collectively be trusted to enforce the law against racist bigots.
The predominant upright officers in the force are continuously betrayed by the collective stain caused by some of its unsavoury members who periodically pollute its image with. racist and misogynysitic offences circulated among their distasteful colleagues.
It is on account of honourable officers in the force that the poison among them have neem caught, exposed. and dismissed. But many professional observers believe it needs to be stepped up to prosecution level for real accountability to take place.
”Prosecution should always be pursued every time a serving police officer is caught being racist because it is in breach of statutory law;;, said Joshua Loopwood, a researcher and former teacher told this publication
Hostility
The home office’s communication department pointed out that ”the Sentencing Act 2020 give courts the power to treat hostility towards race (as well as religion, transgender identity, disability and sexual orientation) as aggravating factors which can increase sentences”.
It further added that: a ”stirring Up Offences (sections 17 to 29N Public Order Act 1986) criminalize the use of threatening (or in the case of racist hatred, at least ‘abusive or insulting’) words or behaviour, or the display of written material which is threatening (or in the case of race, abusive or insulting).
Racist jokes are not considered to meet the threshold of hostility, but those on the receiving end may perceive them to be hostile. They satisfy the threshold of insult and abuse, yet never meet the criteria for prosecution
Multiple police officers in the past 24 months have been guilty of using abusive or insulting behaviour in the case of race on social media, but have never faced criminal charges.
No Place For Racism In Police Force
”There is no place for racism, or any form of discrimination, in the police and the Government expects all such allegations to be treated seriously, the Home Office department said.
”Allegations against the police are handled under a comprehensive legislative framework and any allegation of a criminal nature or which is liable to lead to disciplinary proceedings, which is aggravated by discriminatory behaviour must, by law, be referred to the police “watchdog”, the Home Office representative said.
Despite this, The Home Office refuses to step up to the responsibility of addressing a problem which has become the scourge of the British police force. Its lack of proper accountability has left what ought to be a dignified and reputable office vulnerable to disrepute given some of the unsavoury characters allowed to join its ranks without adequate scrutiny.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman has already received a comprehensive report from this publication about the expectations of the Home Office in ensuring the police force step up to its duty of prosecuting explicitly racist officers, or providing plausible explanations for not doing so.
She will herself be held accountable in the event some of the explicit racism directed at it victims continues to rare its ugly head without any legal recourse.
Any governmental department that abdicates its responsibility to uphold the law is not fit for purpose, and we will go to any length necessary to highlight such failings and push for accountability.
One suggestion made by lawyers is for organizations like ours to test the integrity of the law by making private prosecutions, the next time racist whassap messages by police officers that meet the threshold of prosecution comes to public attention
Sir Mark Rawley has already committed to eradicating serving officers with criminal records, following a report in 2022 which revealed that the police force have readily recruited criminals including predators, a practise likely to prevent many good prospects for the job from taking on the otherwise honourable and noble task of upholding the law and protecting the country from criminals.
This publication will be keeping an interesting eye on both the Home Office and the police force this year to see how their family members of serving officers behave, and how it is dealt with.
As things stand, this police commissioner may just be the man to restore honour, confidence and integrity in a force that badly needs it.