< 1> Wednesday, 21st October 1998.< 2> THE CHAIRMAN: Good morning, Counsellor Mohammed< 3> Ajeeb. We are delighted to be in Bradford this morning< 4> for today in connection with the Stephen Lawrence< 5> Inquiry and Mohammed Ajeeb has agreed to initiate the< 6> proceedings by saying a few words before we start.< 7> COUNCILLOR MOHAMMED AJEEB: Sir William, ladies and< 8> gentlemen, good morning. Can I first of all extend my< 9> warm welcome to the Inquiry team sitting here in<10> Bradford and a welcome to you all.<11> I sincerely hope that your Inquiry team will find<12> your visit to this city not only useful, but<13> productive. Indeed, all of us will be waiting for the<14> outcome of your Inquiry, and you can see there are a<15> lot of people from different sections of the community<16> who undoubtedly will be coming to make comments. Once<17> more, welcome and thank you for your decision to visit<18> Bradford.<19> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your welcome and<20> thank you four your help in bringing us to Bradford.<21> We must not forget that this is the Stephen Lawrence<22> Inquiry, aimed primarily to investigate that terrible<23> murder which took place in 1993, but we have, in<24> addition to that detailed investigation, a second task<25> which is to make recommendations to the Home Secretary

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< 1> as to the future investigation and prosecution of< 2> racially-motivated crime, which is of course a country< 3> wide problem.< 4> For that reason, we are seeking here and we have< 5> sought elsewhere constructive help as to the future.< 6> We are not a royal commission or an inquiry into the< 7> relationship between the police and ethnic minority< 8> communities, but of course the more general question< 9> which surrounds that area does overlap to some extent<10> with the terms of reference which the Home Secretary<11> gave to me as long ago as 31st July 1997, and what we<12> are going to ask is for short oral contributions from<13> various bodies and individuals who have applied to be<14> heard and then we will ask what we hope will be<15> relevant questions to assist us to produce at the end<16> of the day a helpful and a positive future looking<17> report.<18> May I, before we start, introduce my trusted<19> advisers. We have been working together for all these<20> months and I would like to introduce them so you know<21> who sits with me. On my right is Mr Thomas Cook, at<22> one time Deputy Chief Constable of West Yorkshire, now<23> retired. He brings in valuable help to me in<24> connection with policing matters. On my left,<25> Bishop John Sentamu, Bishop for Stepney, and on his

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< 1> left, Dr Richard Stone, for many years a general< 2> practitioner in Notting Hill Gate. On my extreme right< 3> is Mr Steven Wells, the Secretary to the Inquiry. He< 4> is a moving target at the moment, but he is here, he< 5> will be sitting down, so if anyone has matters they< 6> wish to raise during the day, administrative or to do< 7> with what we have heard, please consult him or< 8> Miss Alison Foldes or any member of the team which has< 9> assisted me so much administratively.<10> The first presentation is from the West Yorkshire<11> Police and the West Yorkshire Police Authority, and I<12> see five persons sitting there and I think the central<13> figure is Assistant Chief Lloyd Clarke and he sits with<14> Inspector Stuart Brook, Superintendent David<15> Richardson, Inspector Martin Baines and Pat Sarathy.<16> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: Sir William, if I may<17> start, everyone will have something to say, but I can<18> assure you we will not go over the time you have given<19> us.<20> THE CHAIRMAN: What I do not want to do is get, so to<21> speak, early and not give an opportunity to the later<22> people to say what they wish to when their turn comes.<23> Thank you very much for being here.<24> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: Sir William, having<25> previously given evidence to you in my capacity as

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< 1> Secretary of the AGPO race and community relations< 2> subcommittee, I had not intended speaking again to you< 3> in Bradford as everything I said to you in that< 4> capacity and on that occasion I reiterate< 5> whole-heartedly as being the position here in West< 6> Yorkshire. I know you are aware of the concerns, quite< 7> rightly, which your Inquiry is raising both nationally< 8> and locally and in the absence of the Chief Constable< 9> who is out the country today I feel it is my<10> responsibility to put to you personally the specific<11> position of the West Yorkshire Police, specially<12> following your hearings in Manchester last week and the<13> debate following that concerning its police service and<14> racism.<15> I have no intention whatsoever of muddying the<16> water further by offering a definition of institutional<17> racism. The dozen people who give a dozen different<18> answers will have good reasons to do so. What I and<19> the team would like to do today is focus on the issues<20> as we see them here in West Yorkshire, but more<21> particularly the way forward.<22> West Yorkshire Police is not an inherently racist<23> service. To label us in this way would do a great<24> injustice to the vast majority of police officers and<25> support staff who work on behalf of the community,

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< 1> but -- and it is big but -- we have serious questions< 2> which we know we have to ask ourselves. Questions< 3> about how we exercise our powers; about we record and< 4> investigate racial incidents and racial crime; about< 5> how we build confidence, particularly with minority< 6> ethnic communities; about how we deal with overt racist< 7> behaviour by police officers and about how we< 8> demonstrate fairness in every aspect of policing, but< 9> particularly with minority ethnic communities.<10> These are just five questions, but if I may, I<11> will expand on just two of them because of the time.<12> How we exercise our powers: I know that stop and<13> search powers are of particular interest to you and to<14> the Inquiry. Why we must ask ourselves according to<15> records are you four times likely to be stopped and<16> searched if you are a black person and twice as likely<17> to be stopped and searched if you are an Asian person<18> than your white counterparts living here in West<19> Yorkshire.<20> I am in no doubt that a part of the reason may be<21> that unintentional stereotyping, making assumptions and<22> unintentional prejudice by the police because of a<23> person's ethnicity we recognise it and we are doing<24> something about it.<25> Most importantly is the recognition and the need

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< 1> to treat people as individual human beings. The person< 2> behind the skin colour or ethnic group, the person< 3> behind the name or religions.< 4> The second question concerns the reporting,< 5> recording and investigation of racial crime. Why is it< 6> that in West Yorkshire even accounting for the largest< 7> rise in racial incidents over recent years is it likely< 8> that we get reported to us, at best, 45% of these< 9> crimes, but probably nearer to the mark of 20 to 30%<10> and that takes us to the next question, because I think<11> one impacts upon the other. We don't have the full<12> confidence of minority ethnic communities to report to<13> us these crimes and therefore we must maintain and<14> redouble or efforts to enable victims to report such<15> crimes to us with the confidence that we will<16> thoroughly investigate the incident and then continue<17> to support them as victims.<18> Lastly, and as a separate but related issue, we<19> know that we in West Yorkshire will be a better police<20> service if as officers we represent and reflect through<21> our acts the ethnic diversity of our communities.<22> Whether internal to our colleagues or in service<23> delivery, if there is a racism which is willful or<24> intentional it will not be tolerated. We will support<25> officers and support staff if or who are the subject of

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< 1> such abhorrent behaviour. The perpetrators have no< 2> place whatsoever in West Yorkshire Police. We are< 3> committed to moving the service forward and when I say< 4> I, I speak on behalf of the Chief Constable and chief< 5> officers and I am also accompanied in the hall today by< 6> Chief Superintendent Tom Moran, the Chairman of the< 7> Superintendents Association, Sergeant Robert Benn and< 8> Richard Crigsley, who are the Chairman and Secretary of< 9> the Police Federation for West Yorkshire, and also by<10> Gary Maidson and Julia Long of Unison, who represent<11> many of our support staff, and sitting beside me as you<12> know is Pat Sarathy from the Police Authority and he<13> will speak for himself. However, I, they, we, all of<14> us, we are committed to learning the lessons from<15> mistakes of the past and from this Inquiry.<16> Mr Lawrence, sir, there are lessons which we must<17> learn from the racist murder of your son. We will<18> learn those lessons in West Yorkshire.<19> Our aspiration is to provide and demonstrate<20> fairness in every aspect of policing and in order to do<21> this we will challenge our policies, our practices, our<22> behaviour, whether it is intentional or unintentional<23> if they have any racist consequences whatsoever. We in<24> West Yorkshire will not shy away from the challenge to<25> bring about change. We have a long way to go, but we

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< 1> recognise many of the issues and we have started that< 2> journey, all of us, and we are committed in determining< 3> to succeed. Having said those opening words as a< 4> demonstration of that commitment, what I would like to< 5> do, sir, because I know this is of interest to you< 6> particularly, is to hand over to the team from Bradford< 7> who will each say a few words and then Mr Pat Sarathy< 8> on behalf of the Police Authority.< 9> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: The West Yorkshire Police<10> have raised an intelligence led performance culture for<11> the last four years and the achievements of those last<12> four years are to the credit of the men and women of<13> the West Yorkshire Police who are focused upon driving<14> down crime, increasing detections and improving the<15> level of community safety for local people. The<16> Bradford district has made an important contribution in<17> the reduction of recorded crime to its lowest level for<18> seven years.<19> If I could give you a few statistics: Burglary<20> dwelling has been reduced by 40.5%, that is from 16,185<21> houses that were broken into, has been reduced to<22> 9,624. Robbery has been reduced by 41.8%, that is 403w<23> fewer victims of robbery. All crime has been reduced<24> by 16.6%, which is 11,999 fewer victims of all crime.<25> It has been reduced to 60,215 offences.

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< 1> This has been against an increase in drug< 2> trafficking which is up by 92%, risen from 207 to 399< 3> drug suppliers who have been arrested. We do recognise< 4> there has been a significant change in the way that we< 5> deliver this unparalleled success of crime reduction.< 6> We have reduced and in some areas withdrawn the number< 7> of community beat officers to create new teams of< 8> officers who can more effectively tackle crime hot< 9> spots. We are less effective in resolving<10> neighbourhood disputes and minor quality of life issues<11> and the pursuit of measurable outcomes has been<12> prioritised, and the quantity of encounters over the<13> quality of encounters and we understand that the<14> quality of encounters is central to the building of<15> public confidence, but we cannot continue to pursue<16> quantity over quality.<17> We accept now the time is right to appraise the<18> benefits and drawbacks of pursuing an intelligence led<19> performance culture and it is opportune that the Crime<20> and Disorder Act has now been enacted which calls for a<21> crime and disorder audit, together with greater<22> community consultation and partnership and this will<23> provide the impetus for us, the West Yorkshire Police,<24> to more accurately match our service delivery to the<25> public perception and expectations.

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< 1> Moving on to stop and search, part of the< 2> intelligence led proactive successes we have enjoyed< 3> throughout West Yorkshire Police, the tactic of stop< 4> and search has made a significant contribution to the< 5> detection and prevention of crime and does play a< 6> crucial role in the delivery of community safety. It< 7> is clear there is an obvious link between the use of< 8> this tactic and the perceptions held by minority ethnic< 9> communities of the police. Consequently, this can have<10> a detrimental effect upon the level of confidence that<11> such communities have in the ability of the police to<12> tackle racially-motivated crime.<13> I know you have heard it before, but I will repeat<14> it: The raw data needs to be viewed with caution and<15> analysed within the context of some economic,<16> demographic and geographic factors, together with<17> personal lifestyle. Whilst all these factors increase<18> the likelihood of being stopped and searched, we do<19> recognise that the black and Asian people still remain<20> over represented within the figures of stop and search<21> and in an effort to bring greater control to the use of<22> stop and search powers we have introduced a range of<23> measures in West Yorkshire. All stops are recorded,<24> whether voluntary or under section 1 of the Police and<25> Criminal Evidence Act.

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< 1> Stop and search powers are used in support of< 2> intelligence led proactive policing and consequently< 3> tend to focus upon individuals rather than any< 4> speculative searches amongst communities. We have also< 5> introduced a computerised database relating to stop and< 6> search, which together with a system of performance< 7> review, performs regular opportunities for supervisors< 8> to monitor and assess the training of the policing< 9> activities on a team basis and also on an individual<10> basis.<11> The following figures will illustrate the<12> relatively low incidents of stop and search across West<13> Yorkshire and consequently stop and search is not the<14> contentious issue in Bradford, but it appears else<15> where in the country. On a typical day in<16> West Yorkshire the police deal with 5,200 calls from<17> the resident population of over 2 million people. From<18> that population of 2 million, 43 people are stopped<19> each day. 37 of them are white, four are Asian and two<20> are black. In Bradford, with the resident population<21> approaching half a million, 18 people are stopped per<22> day, 14 are white, three are Asian, and every other day<23> one of those people are black.<24> Each officer in Bradford on average conducts seven<25> stop searches per year. This is equivalent to just

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< 1> over three people per day in each of our five police< 2> division.< 3> I will conclude my evidence there and pass on to< 4> Inspector Brook, our Community Relations Manager.< 5> INSPECTOR BROOK: I am Inspector Stuart Brook, the West< 6> Yorkshire Police Community Relations Officer. I am< 7> primarily responsible for ensuring the force sticks< 8> rigidly to the force policy in respect of the< 9> recording, the investigation of racially-motivated<10> incidents and am also responsible for policy<11> development in that particular area.<12> Sir, much favourable comment has been passed about<13> our policy and procedures to deal with<14> racially-motivated incidents. Her Majesty's<15> Inspectorate Constabulary highlighted good practice by<16> West Yorkshire Police in the thematic inspection,<17> Wining the Race. Also many other forces up and down<18> the country have visited West Yorkshire Police, seen<19> our procedures in action and have adopted them.<20> Pleasing though that is, their comments are likely<21> immaterial compared with those of the victims we<22> search. For us having a policy is insufficient unless<23> it translates into the provision of a service which is<24> tailored to the individual needs of every victim; also

<25> that it contains in every case minimum standards that

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< 1> seek to ensure a timely and appropriate response, a< 2> sympathetic approach, a thorough investigation, support< 3> provision for the victims and their family and< 4> effective action against offenders.< 5> Although these have always been our aims, to be< 6> frank up until a few years ago our service delivery was< 7> poor. In 1993 we asked victims what they thought of< 8> the service we were providing. The results were not< 9> what we expected. 55% of victims expected more from us<10> in terms of speed of response, support provision and<11> action against perpetrators. 62% said they were not<12> kept informed about progress. 39% said they were<13> discouraged from reporting similar incidents to us in<14> the future, and probably worst of all, less than half<15> the victims were satisfied with the overall police<16> action. It was not surprising, given the results of<17> this, that confidence levels were probably at their<18> lowest point. This was reflected in the number of<19> people prepared to come forwards and report incidents<20> to us.<21> Also it was similarly unsurprising that our<22> partners in the community, that is other agencies and<23> organisations, were not talking us seriously when we<24> spoke about our commitment to deal positively with<25> racially-motivated crime. We took a fairly bold step

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< 1> by publishing the results and although the situation< 2> was obviously embarrassing for us, it was exactly what< 3> was needed to show commitment and determination and to< 4> be open and frank about what we were prepared to do to< 5> address the situation. As the result of that< 6> particular survey we carried amongst victims we< 7> embarked on a root and branch review for policy< 8> procedures.< 9> Around this particular time policing plans had<10> just been developed and from the introduction of<11> policing plans in 1995 we have consistently made<12> dealing with racially-motivated incidents the key<13> objective within all our plans. We have set<14> challenging targets to increase reporting rates to<15> tackle under-recording and improve our over all service<16> delivery.<17> In determining a new policy, we consulted widely<18> with voluntary statutory organisations and members of<19> the public. Our new procedures include a positive<20> arrest and prosecution policy, continuous monitoring by<21> a supervisory officer, published service delivery<22> standards, emphasis on preventing repeat victimisation,<23> closer cooperation between ourselves and other agencies

<24> within the community, and perhaps the most important<25> aspect of all, the continuous independent testing of

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< 1> our service delivery with victims and feedback< 2> arrangements to divisional managers and the< 3> investigating officer.< 4> It is encouraging to tell you that through these< 5> positive actions we have started to make a difference.< 6> For instance, during the first year of policing crimes,< 7> that was 95/96, reported incidents rose by 39%. In the< 8> second year they rose by 75%. In the third year they< 9> began to peek and rose only by 3%, but it had risen<10> over those three years from 256 to 644. Again to the<11> half year in this financial year they are up again by<12> 14%. These increases are the largest in percentage<13> terms than anywhere else in England and Wales.<14> Also encouraging is that increased levels of<15> reporting have also been matched by high levels of<16> satisfaction. In 1993 less than half the victims were<17> satisfied. Last year this had risen to 70% and at the<18> halfway stage this year it is up to 79%. However,<19> despite all the work we have done, often in close<20> cooperation with multi-agency racial harassment groups<21> and other statutory agencies we are not complacent<22> about our service delivery. Significant numbers of<23> victims are getting a better service than they did, but<24> with a quarter of victims still dissatisfied with the<25> service we provide, we acknowledge that we still have a

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< 1> long way to go.< 2> Sir, to give you a local dimension on service< 3> delivery and multi-agency cooperation, I will hand you< 4> to Martin Baines.< 5> INSPECTOR MARTIN BAINES: I am Martin Baines, the< 6> Bradford Police Community and Race Relations Officer< 7> and I am responsible to the Chief Constable and the< 8> divisional commanders in Bradford for community race< 9> relations across the district. There are many<10> initiatives and projects that we are involved in, in<11> terms of direct impact on police and community<12> relations, but I would like to refer to two of them.<13> The first one I would like to refer to is the Bradford<14> Alliance Against Racial Harassment. I am aware you<15> will receive a full presentation on the partnership<16> later today, but I would like to talk about our<17> involvement with the partnership very briefly and how<18> that actually works.<19> We are represented on the policy group, the<20> management group and also the casework groups of the<21> partnership and, as you will hear later, what has<22> actually happened here, agencies have come together,

<23> the West Yorkshire Police, Bradford Council, Bradford<24> Racial Equality Council and other agencies that work<25> here in victim support have come together to form the

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< 1> partnership.< 2> The partnership is young, it is only two or three< 3> years old. Over the last 18 months what we have< 4> actually done is established reporting centres in the< 5> community where people can go and report racial< 6> incidents, community centres, housing officers, also< 7> the local police stations have some of those reporting< 8> centres. So we have actively enabled and looked at< 9> ways in which we can help the community to report<10> racial incidents locally, rather than actually having<11> to come to the police station.<12> We have also assisted the work in the Alliance by<13> helping to develop a database where racial incidents<14> can be calculated by the Alliance and incidents are<15> reported at the centres and by the agencies and that<16> central database has been supplied by the West<17> Yorkshire Police to the Alliance to collate that<18> information.<19> What we have also done is given the Alliance the<20> actual agency reporting from is the West Yorkshire<21> Police views to actually record racial incidents.<22> On top of that we have taken part and helped to<23> develop training for people who take part in casework<24> groups, agencies that come together to actually discuss<25> individual cases. I won't talk too much about that

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< 1> because I know that there will be a presentation on< 2> this later on and those issues will be raised with you,< 3> but I would like to emphasise that the partnership is< 4> very young. Our aim over the next few years is to< 5> extend the local reporting centres right across the< 6> district of Bradford, so that anywhere you go in the< 7> Bradford district there will be a local reporting< 8> centre near to the community where they can actually go< 9> and report incidents, be that a police station, be that<10> a that community centre or housing office. By having<11> this network and working in this partnership we can<12> work together to tackle the problem.<13> I can't present a picture of rosiness in Bradford<14> because it isn't. What I would like to emphasise is<15> that we are working with our partners and we are keen<16> to work with them to tackle racial harassment right<17> across the district and we are willing to play our part<18> in that.<19> The second initiative I would like to mention is<20> we recently launched an established a Bradford and<21> district minority ethnic communities police liaison

<22> group for the district. The reason we have done this<23> is because we felt we wanted to establish better a more<24> direct means of consultation with minority ethnic<25> communities and work together in partnership to enable

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< 1> those communities to play an active part in the way we< 2> make policy, in the way we actually deal with problems< 3> and issues and the way we move forward to police< 4> Bradford. That group was established recently. It has< 5> had widespread report. The Bradford Racial Equality< 6> Council played a key role here to help establish the< 7> group and whilst I am sure there are many challenges< 8> and hurdles to come, we feel it is a good way forward< 9> to work in partnership with the community. Racial<10> harassment is very much on the agenda and will be on<11> the agenda as part of our discussions and we will look<12> at ways in which we can work together in the future.<13> As I say, there are many other initiatives, but I<14> would like to close at this point.<15> PAT SARATHY: Sir William and members of the panel, my<16> name is Pat Sarathy. I am an independent member of the<17> West Yorkshire Police Authority. Very quickly I see my<18> job, along with the 16 others, as holding the Chief<19> Constable accountable for his actions. I, in my role<20> as an independent member, look at two things: How the<21> Chief Constable connects people with policy and power<22> with responsibility and our monitoring role is to do<23> with that.<24> Over the past four years, whilst I have been doing<25> monitoring as former Chairman, the Chairman of the

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< 1> Complaints Committee, I think great progress is being< 2> made in connecting people with policy, but it takes a< 3> long time. There are perceptions that are distorted< 4> that need to be overcome. There are new initiatives to< 5> be adopted and we are trying all the time to do that.< 6> Now, when it comes to collecting power with< 7> responsibility we have a problem. We can have high< 8> standards. We can have benchmarks, but as to how the< 9> individual behaves on the front line is going to be a<10> big problem. Now, that is one thing we are not doing<11> very well from my point of view and we are trying to<12> get that right. The disproportionate user power in the<13> enforcement rule of the police officer is something we<14> are looking at very closely.<15> There are five ways in which we monitor and<16> evaluate the work of the Chief Constable. The first is<17> the partnership approach, I don't know what they are<18> doing in other parts of the country. We work in close<19> partnership with the Chief Constable in setting<20> strategic directions in carrying out the policing

<21> plan. Also through a robust community police force we<22> have feedback from the community as to whether we are<23> failing or succeeding or which area we should<24> concentrate on. Lay visiting gives a great insight<25> into what goes on in this area. It exposes some of our

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< 1> perhaps inhibitions, some of our prejudices, how we< 2> deal with offenders and victims of offences.< 3> Complaints committee, we scrutinise everything< 4> that happens in the entire West Yorkshire Police< 5> Force. We have access to complaints register. We can< 6> query whatever complaint that has been there, we can< 7> query whether a compliant has been formally or< 8> informally resolved, how long it has taken to do so and< 9> we can ask them talk to come back and explain where<10> things were not reasonably done. In addition to that,<11> the police service comes to us with various instances<12> of cases of interesting note, death in police cells,<13> and there is tremendous open access, there is<14> transparency in everything that goes on.<15> Finally, and most importantly, whether it is<16> unique to West Yorkshire or not, there is this<17> visibility of members in the area. We have access to<18> all the police officers and the police stations in the<19> area. I can drop in and talk to the superintendent or<20> the WPC about any matter I like and there is no, no<21> cover up at all. By doing this we are ensuring the<22> high aspirations of the service are met and will be<23> developed.<24> Finally, sir, we are trying, as members of the<25> Police Authority, to establish certain benchmarks and

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< 1> we have not solidified it yet, but these are to do with< 2> strategy and total commitment from the force, whether< 3> it is consistent, integrated or cohesive. We are< 4> trying to look at the leadership as a whole, whether it< 5> is focused and has clarity, whether the boost that< 6> ideas which staff belief, confidence and trust.< 7> Certainly they are accountable to us for every action< 8> they do. We look at the support they give in the< 9> entire force, whether they are enabling, whether the<10> coordinating is good, whether the high standards set by<11> us for them is met and what they are doing if it is not<12> met, what kind of advice is given integrating and<13> sharing and spreading good practice, how are they<14> analysing the feedback and how are they transferring<15> good practice to other areas, training is very<16> important, official training to final analysis of<17> promotion matters and how they deal with partnerships.<18> Not normal multi-agencies partnerships that is bandied<19> about these days, but in terms of partnerships

<20> involving reluctant ones of the community who want to<21> come and tell us how they feel they are acting.<22> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. I think, Assistant<23> Chief Constable, that your words about a dozen<24> different descriptions or definitions of institutional<25> racism may have come from me, because we have to

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< 1> wrestle with the problem and I do believe that 24 given< 2> the question would give totally different answers, but< 3> I feel, I don't know if you agree with me, I feel that< 4> people, particularly in the police forces that we have< 5> been seeing, most of them, are addressing the problem< 6> as one of a culture, a collective failure, not just of< 7> one or two who are bad apples and that is absolutely< 8> essential, because if there is a culture of racism,< 9> particularly at the sharp end of policing, they have<10> the power, particularly in contact with young males and<11> people who perceive the police as exercising their<12> power wrongly, so they have to be the first to attack<13> it; do you agree with that?<14> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: Yes, I do, and yes,<15> you are quite right, the words were yours, sir,<16> reflecting back from Manchester, but I think what we<17> have got to accept as well that is not a just a culture<18> of the police service, it is a culture of society and<19> by accepting that and our rule and our responsibility<20> in it, then we can move forward and deal with the<21> issues. The thing for me is why is it we, the police<22> service, should do more than anybody else and not just<23> sit back and accept because 'that is society, isn't<24> it'. The reason is very clear: because we are charged<25> to act on behalf of the community. We have the powers

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< 1> and the ability to use those powers over individual< 2> people and it is that very key reason why we say -- and< 3> what the purpose of intelligence led policing is about< 4> is actually to focus on individuals, to look at the< 5> individual, not as a member of a group, of a minority< 6> ethnic group, or whatever, but to look at them as an< 7> individual, as I said: the person, not the colour of< 8> the skin.< 9> So it is very important we feel that we look at<10> unintentional prejudice. It is not something that is<11> wilful. I agree we have made great strides in terms of<12> overt willful racism, but now it is something much more<13> than that. I have said before and I have used the<14> words subliminal. I make no apologies for that word<15> because I use it to mean exactly the opposite of<16> willful, but once of course we are aware that<17> processes, procedures, behaviour, or whatever else are<18> discriminating intentionally, but more particularly

<19> unintentionally, once we are aware of that we have got<20> to take some action against it and that is a<21> responsibility of leaders in the police service, of all<22> of us in the police service. That is why I don't want<23> to get into a debate about institutional racism. I<24> have no doubt, sir, that you as a panel will no doubt<25> give us the wisdom of your thoughts at some time in the

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< 1> future of what you consider to be that definition.< 2> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Can I ask you about< 3> community relations officers. In the case that we are< 4> investigating there was, I suppose I could call it a< 5> tentative racial incident unit. They made a start but< 6> it made not much impact on the division in which it was< 7> functioning. Is the community relations officer set up< 8> and the force race relations officer set up local< 9> rather than central?<10> INSPECTOR BROOK: It is, sir. I operate centrally and<11> have links with our 17 divisions who have community<12> safety officers who are the people within the division<13> who have primary responsibility to coordinate the<14> multi-agency involvement and the supervision of the<15> actual inquiry. What we find in West Yorkshire is<16> despite raising the number of incidents from people<17> coming forward to report them and better reporting<18> procedures, in terms of over all crime there are still<19> a small number. What we find was that officers could<20> go through their entire service without recording one<21> of these incidents at all because of the small numbers<22> involved. We wanted somebody in every single division<23> to have the skill, to have the commitment and to have<24> the contact to be able to deal with these things<25> properly.

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< 1> THE CHAIRMAN: I think that is right, but another< 2> thing, I just float this because it is our experience,< 3> is that because in the case we investigated quite a< 4> large number of officers were not prepared to accept< 5> that the murder was purely racially-motivated. That< 6> must put a brake on the investigation because they may< 7> be looking for the wrong people, and I just wonder,< 8> there are risks in concentrating the interest in racial< 9> incidents in one or two officers, everybody must be<10> brought into it, must they not?<11> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: That is right. If you were<12> responsible for a force in relation to community and<13> race relations Inspector Baines gives a district view<14> in respect to community and race relations attacks.<15> There are units that specifically charged with looking<16> at racially-motivated attacks in community and race<17> relations, but the most important point is that great

<18> strides are being made now to mainstream dealing with<19> racially-motivated attacks which is really at the<20> centre of what this inquiry is about. It is about<21> mainstream so that officers on the beat, officers in<22> proactive units are alert to lookout for racially<23> motivated crimes and incidents.<24> THE CHAIRMAN: And being able to provide information at<25> once of the sort of people who might have committed the

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< 1> crime.< 2> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: That's right, sir, yes.< 3> BISHOP SENTAMU: Mr Lloyd, when you gave evidence on< 4> behalf of the AGPO in London, your own concept was and< 5> I put it back to you, a question from Mr Cook, you< 6> said: "If institutional racism means an intention or< 7> prejudice that prejudice is subconscious or subliminal< 8> then I totally accept the concept."< 9> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: Yes, absolutely.<10> BISHOP SENTAMU: The question I have to ask you, once<11> you have accepted that concept and I think you rightly<12> highlighted the two areas that caused the greatest<13> difficulty, the exercise of power in stop and search,<14> the reporting and recording of racially motivated<15> crime, how are you tackling the problem that Mr Sarathy<16> talked about, this connecting power of responsibility,<17> this disproportionate use of discretionary powers to<18> make sure that what your concept of institutional<19> racism is, is not actually occurring in your force.<20> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: The issue is, as you<21> quite rightly say, the discretionary power of the<22> individual constable. What that is about is individual<23> constables knowing, firstly, how they can actually use<24> that power and then knowing that power can be used<25> against an individual because of his or her actions,

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< 1> because of information or evidence that they may have< 2> against the individual, and that is why I keep focusing< 3> back to the individual. Stop and search powers should< 4> be used against individuals because of suspicions about< 5> that individual. What we have seen, and Bradford is< 6> slightly different from other areas in the force, but< 7> what we have seen is that by ensuring that officers are< 8> aware of how they should use their powers in the most< 9> appropriate way and by using intelligence led policing,<10> the notion of intelligence led policing, intelligence<11> against individuals, we actually see stop and searches<12> start to balance out, that the power is not being used<13> disproportionately against a particular community, so<14> we actually see that emphasis through the use of<15> intelligence, that is spreading, will spread throughout<16> the force by the training that officers are given and

<17> how they use that power. Once you are aware of these<18> issues you can't sit back and hope it will spread. You<19> have to lead that spread and that good practice<20> throughout the force.<21> BISHOP SENTAMU: Her Majesty's Inspection, which had<22> something wonderful to comment about with West<23> Yorkshire, nonetheless in that same inspection report<24> not necessarily with West Yorkshire but in the six<25> forces that were inspected, words which were

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< 1> disturbing, that there was continuing evidence during< 2> the inspection of inappropriate language and behaviour< 3> by police officers, but even more worrying was the lack< 4> of intervention by sergeants and inspectors. How are< 5> you ensuring -- and again I think Mr Sarathy pointed at< 6> it -- that your sergeants and inspectors internally,< 7> not just outside, internally are dealing with these< 8> racist attitudes?< 9> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: I think you are quite<10> right. I don't think in the inspection report it<11> necessarily particularly pointed the finger to West<12> Yorkshire, but if it did I would accept it in any<13> event. We have made it very clear, not only to<14> supervisors, but to every officer in the force, there<15> is a two-way process that we can enable to happen<16> because I, as assistant chief, can only do something<17> about it if it is brought to my attention. What I<18> would is that individual officers within the force, and<19> not just because they are black or from a particular<20> minority, if there is inappropriate behaviour anybody<21> can challenge it and if it is challenged by another<22> constable that challenge will be supported by action by<23> a first line supervisor, whether that is a sergeant or<24> inspector. But it is about being able to support all<25> officers. It is not only about training for inspectors

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< 1> or sergeants, because if it is inappropriate language< 2> or behaviour it may be exhibited not while they are< 3> there. So constables themselves, support staff, have< 4> got to feel able to challenge that behaviour themselves< 5> and to know that they will be supported if it is< 6> challenged.< 7> BISHOP SENTAMU: How many minority ethnic community< 8> people have you succeeded in recruiting to your force.< 9> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: In West Yorkshire it<10> is about 134 officers.<11> BISHOP SENTAMU: What are their ranks?<12> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: We have one<13> superintendent who is an Asian superintendent, and then<14> we are at inspector rank, the next highest rank, one<15> officer, but the majority are at constable.

<16> BISHOP SENTAMU: Are you succeeding in recruiting more<17> numbers or is there still a hesitation like we found in<18> other places because of the fear that the racism which<19> is found largely in society nonetheless comes into the<20> police force and because of the powers the police have<21> people find they don't want to be part of that. Are<22> you finding that a difficulty?<23> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: That certainly has<24> been a difficulty in West Yorkshire but we are now<25> faced with a different difficulty. We ran a recruiting

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< 1> campaign last year targeting, and particularly here in< 2> Bradford, targeting particularly members of the Asian< 3> minority communities with the intention of recruiting< 4> into the service. We had more enquiries. We had more< 5> positive enquiries. We were pleased with that and then< 6> I have to say that we are going to unfortunately< 7> disappoint those people because we are not going to< 8> satisfy their aspirations for the simple reason that< 9> this year we have only recruited 16 officers in total<10> and we will not be recruiting any more, that is because<11> of economic constraints and it is unlikely we will be<12> recruiting any new officers in West Yorkshire Police in<13> 1999 into 2000. That is an economic factor, not a fact<14> we are discriminating against people from minority<15> community communities.<16> BISHOP SENTAMU: May be you export them somewhere else.<17> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: We would be delighted<18> for any other police force to take people from the<19> minority communities in West Yorkshire because we are<20> proud of them.<21> BISHOP SENTAMU: I actually made that very seriously.<22> Mr Baines, Community Relations, supposing a police<23> officer was faced with a burglary case and there is a<24> racial harassment case, who decides of the two<25> priorities which one should be pursued, because I have

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< 1> a feeling that the burglary will take precedence over< 2> the racial harassment case because it is< 3> straightforward, very clear and the other is slightly< 4> more complicated and I want to know who decides.< 5> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: I know you put the question< 6> to Inspector Baines, but I will answer that question.< 7> The officer is most likely investigate the burglary< 8> first, but not for the reasons you have explained, that< 9> the racial harassment would be more difficult to<10> investigate. It is about prioritised policing. We are<11> responding to the Home Secretary's key objectives which<12> puts burglary of people's homes very much at the top of<13> the list of priorities. Having said that, if both<14> messages came in at the same time, the burglary had

<15> been committed and an allegation of racial harassment<16> was being made, such as an assault or something of that<17> nature that was on going, the officer would go to the<18> most immediate message of the two. But ordinarily,<19> sir, if the message came into the area control room,<20> both incidents had taken place, there was no immediate<21> arrest to be made, nobody was injured at the scene, no<22> evidence could be lost, the officer would go to the<23> burglary because that is the way the force has<24> prioritised that offence.<25> BISHOP SENTAMU: Do you see a welcome possibility that

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< 1> the home secretary may make racial harassment and the< 2> investigation of racially-motivated crime, now that< 3> there is the racial aggravated crimes, another priority< 4> which is quite important, particularly in an area where< 5> there are ethnic minority communities facing this< 6> terrible scourge of racism.< 7> INSPECTOR BAINES: It will be a priority whether or not< 8> the Home Secretary makes it one.< 9> MR SARATHY: May I come in on this issue. I think this<10> is going to be rather critical of the government. The<11> performance indicators set by the Home Secretary do not<12> make investigation of racial incidents the highest<13> priority for some reason. I must comment here and I<14> think it is relevant in the light of the Inquiry here<15> that there is a great deal of rhetoric about tackling<16> racial incidents, but it is just rhetoric and<17> politically I don't see the commitment in tackling the<18> roots of racism and that is a fact. There is a lot of<19> (inaudible) about what people say. We are promoting a<20> justification culture and lately during your enquiries<21> a mere Cooper culture, nothing hits our piecemeal,<22> nobody says tackle this first. It is not done because<23> it is not politically successful or politically viable<24> or profitable.<25> DR STONE: One of the anxieties I have is that as a

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< 1> result of our report I would hope the sorts of problems< 2> that were raised during the investigation into the< 3> murder of Stephen Lawrence will now become a high< 4> priority for police forces across the country. If that< 5> is the case it may well be that, as Mr Richardson says,< 6> they have to respond to the Home Office's targets. If< 7> those targets are for burglaries at the moment, as I< 8> understand it, burglary rates around the country have< 9> reduced considerably as a result of burglary being a<10> high priority, that has obviously been successful, what<11> I worry about in the medium term is that there will be<12> a target now for racial incidents and racial awareness<13> and all the other parts of that and maybe the burglary

<14> rates might go up as a result, and at the same time<15> maybe three or four years down the line there will be<16> another priority that comes in and so racial incidents<17> slips down the agenda. How can we get a grip on this<18> so this becomes a mainstream thing that is going to<19> last for years, it is going to change the culture, if<20> you like, of the police, maybe of Britain itself?<21> MR SARATHY: I am going express some cynicism here,<22> firstly the fact that great things are going to be done<23> at the end of this inquiry, I would question that, in<24> the light of what happened after Scarman. There will<25> be a placebo effect, there will be a lot of toing and

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< 1> froing and that will be the end of it at the end of the< 2> year. Sorry to say that. To answer your question, for< 3> the police force, because of economic circumstances< 4> there will be other priorities set in terms of< 5> burglaries and robberies or whatever so this will take< 6> low profile. To answer your questions to make sure< 7> that we continue with the good work we are doing, the< 8> work we are doing now, I would find it the duty of the< 9> members the Police Authority to make sure it happens,<10> it is kept on the boil and not put on the back burner<11> and there are limitations to limiting racial harassment<12> and racial incidents. I feel frustrated when these<13> happen.<14> DR STONE: I heard Mr Straw saying very recently that<15> he felt there was a comparison to be made between<16> Scarman and the implementation and this inquiry and the<17> implementation. He pointed out at the time that<18> Scarman reported that the political climate was<19> unfavourable to the recommendations he was making at<20> the time, whereas he feels very strongly now that the<21> political climate is positive towards the<22> recommendations he hopes we will be making and I do<23> think that is a difference and I hope the cynicism you<24> are expressing will be taken on board, but nonetheless<25> I feel quite hopeful that the recommendations we are

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< 1> going to make will be implemented, but I am still< 2> looking at the longer terms and I think Mr Clarke< 3> wanted to come in on that.< 4> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: Yes, I was hoping to< 5> sound a more optimistic note and I was going to do it< 6> by drawing a comparison, certainly I can speak for West< 7> Yorkshire, four or five years ago victims of domestic< 8> violence, violence in the home, were not perhaps< 9> treated as they should be by the police service, it was<10> seen as more of a nuisance than a crime, and what<11> happened four or five years ago in exactly the same way<12> at the moment as we are dealing with racial incidents,

<13> it had a heightened profile, but we have actually been<14> able to maintain that and even though it might be not a<15> specific target, what we do see is a very different<16> approach by police officers in mainstream policing as<17> to how we deal with domestic violence and violence in<18> the home and I would hope that the way we are<19> approaching now the momentum that is there within the<20> service, within the community, to actually deal with<21> racial harassment, with abusive language, that the<22> analogy we take forward the lessons from how we dealt<23> with domestic silence, I am very optimistic that we<24> will do that.<25> MR COOK: Can I just ask Mr Clarke a couple of

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< 1> questions on stop and search. You said at the< 2> beginning of your formal presentation in stop and< 3> searching in West Yorkshire Asian people were twice as< 4> likely to be stopped and blacks four times likely to be< 5> stopped, and you said that part of the reason may --< 6> and it is the may I highlight -- may be unintentional< 7> stereotyping. Is that quite deliberate, that it is a< 8> possibility that such things occur or would you go< 9> further than that and say stereotyping is a cause.<10> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: Yes, I would say it<11> is. From all the evidence we have, independent<12> evidence that has been provided to us by research from<13> the Home Office, we accept that and we will do<14> something about it, so yes.<15> MR COOK: In answer to a question you made mention of<16> the fact that stop and search figures were balancing<17> out as against the figures I have quoted. Where are<18> the balancing out; how are they balancing out?<19> ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE CLARKE: That particularly is<20> in Bradford and again it is different in different<21> divisions and in different areas of the force as we see<22> THAT developing. Could I ask Superintendent Richardson<23> to speak about Bradford Central in that area.<24> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: Often the figures that are<25> quoted are stops per thousand and it seems to me

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< 1> everyone is looking for some kind of democratic stop< 2> and search and that power will never ever be< 3> implemented so that it reflects accurately the< 4> populations. However, in Bradford Central Division< 5> where the population is 50% white and 44.8 Asian we< 6> find there are 33 stops per thousand of white people,< 7> but only 12.1 stops per thousand of Asians. It< 8> completely contradicts the national trends. I don't< 9> attempt to try to explain the reasons why, but I<10> mentioned earlier on in my presentation that it has a<11> lot to do with where you live, the lifestyle you lead

<12> and the age profile of the community and for once in<13> Bradford Central we have a community which is virtually<14> 50/50.<15> MR COOK: How long has that been the case.<16> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: I haven't researched that.<17> MR COOK: It is obviously of interest because it is a<18> turnaround on the national trend.<19> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: It is not reflected<20> throughout Bradford. As I mentioned earlier on, we<21> have nearly half a million population throughout<22> Bradford. When you look at stops for white people in<23> Bradford, stops per thousand, is 13.5 for Asian people<24> and 18.3, you can see the gap is very much narrow. I<25> think the important point is that stops for black

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< 1> people are 38 per thousand and that shows that they are< 2> over represented within the figures. As I mentioned< 3> earlier on, in Bradford it is one black person being< 4> stopped every other day throughout the entire district< 5> of half a million people. It is a very complex issue< 6> that can't be answered in a sound bite.< 7> MR COOK: You used the phrase "mainstreaming", by which< 8> I take it you mean the translating policy into< 9> practice, and this is something we hear everywhere we<10> go, that it is all very well people at the table say<11> all the right things and have all the right answers,<12> but the people on the ground, the attitude is quite<13> different. How are you actually achieving that, how<14> are you seeking to achieve that, and is there any<15> training involved?<16> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: All officers receive<17> training, but more importantly than that, it is about<18> the role you fulfill when you are in the police. It is<19> about the sergeants supervising staff, it is about the<20> inspectors inspecting them, it is about myself as<21> divisional commander doing the job. It is about<22> raising the profile about how to handle racial<23> incidents. It is about making sure the definition of a<24> racial incident is available throughout the police<25> station, that there are notices on display.

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< 1> MR COOK: How do you actually get that message through< 2> to your sergeants and inspectors?< 3> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: Through meetings, through me< 4> personally going on briefing parades. Everyone knows< 5> my response to the handling of racially-motivated< 6> incidents because of my own involvement in that aspect< 7> of work. It is for every divisional commander to take< 8> that to his own division.< 9> MR COOK: Do you think that is the essential element?<10> SUPERINTENDENT RICHARDSON: I don't think the answer is

<11> in training the PCs. Yes, they have a valuable part to<12> play, but it is about sergeants ensuring the behaviour<13> actually reflects the policy, so we don't get into what<14> is house policy but is practically delivered in a<15> different way.<16> MR COOK: Could you tell me, Inspector Baines, you<17> mentioned an ethnic minority and police consultative<18> group. How does that relate to the Police Authority's<19> consultative group? Is it an amalgam of the two or is<20> it a replacement or what?<21> INSPECTOR BAINES: It is something in addition. Clearly<22> the Police Authority have their consultation groups and<23> their method of consultation. What we have identified<24> in Bradford is that often those meetings are poorly<25> attended and under represented by people from ethnic

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< 1> minorities and often the issues that are discussed at< 2> those meetings relate very much to local policing in< 3> terms of specific incidents, but don't always relate to< 4> the issues that impact directly on minority ethnic< 5> communities. What we wanted to do was have a mechanism< 6> whereby those issues could be raised by those< 7> communities, where we could discuss them and where some< 8> of the concerns of those communities could be fed into< 9> policy and how we actually police the district. So in<10> a sense, it is an addition. It is not a replacement.<11> It is an addition to that, and it is a police driven<12> initiative.<13> MR COOK: Competition may not be the right word, but is<14> that not, in a way, effectively competition for the<15> Authority's consultative group? It would be appear<16> that if people are interested in minority ethnic issues<17> they are going to come to your police consultative<18> group, which will eventually, if it does work,<19> undermine the Police Authority's consultative group.<20> Is it a reflection on the poor performance there?<21> MR SARATHY: No, it is not in competition. In fact, we<22> are scrutinising our police community forum. We are<23> not happy in the way it functions at the moment. It is<24> literally three men and a shaggy dog and a rainy night<25> coming to a consultation meeting. We want to extend

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< 1> that. Certainly, in terms of considering the policing< 2> plan, we do go to focus groups, hard to reach groups< 3> and whatever, and also I must remind you in the light< 4> of the Crime and Disorder Act, we are consulting with< 5> other bodies, other agencies, as to what is the best< 6> thing to do in terms of community safety and fear of< 7> crime. I welcome the initiative that has come from --< 8> or we welcome as members of the Authority the< 9> initiative that has come from the service.

<10> INSPECTOR BAINES: We don't see it as competition. We<11> see it as an additional step, an enhancement of what<12> already exists. Clearly we have to recognise we have a<13> very large minority ethnic population in the city and<14> we have to have that mechanism, that dialogue and that<15> partnership and if we can enhance the work of the<16> Police Authority consultative group, then we have to<17> bite the bullet and do it.<18> MR COOK: You mentioned local reporting centres,<19> community centres, whatever, and the use of the force<20> forum by other agencies. Is that simply an initiative<21> in Bradford or across the force.<22> INSPECTOR BROOK: It appears in many places in the<23> force, the activities of the Bradford Alliance Against<24> Racial Harassment replicated in other districts in West<25> Yorkshire and what we are hoping to do is to ensure

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< 1> that people are in confidence when they come to report< 2> incidents too. We are not concerned if their first< 3> port of call is not the police station. We want to< 4> accept reports from anybody to the organisation that< 5> they are most constable with. The recognition that< 6> completing a certain form which is transferable between< 7> organisations is very attractive and that is why we< 8> feel it is important that we try and pursue, as far as< 9> we can, the use of a unique form.<10> MR COOK: Has that been totally accepted by other<11> agencies?<12> INSPECTOR BROOK: Not totally accepted, because there<13> is an element of duplication in this, in that if their<14> own organisation has a fairly comprehensive form and if<15> they have to fill in another one, there could be some<16> tensions in that. What we seek to do is ensure that<17> similarly recorded information appears on anybody's<18> reporting form, so it actually can be accepted and it<19> is meaningful information in that it is saying the same<20> thing.<21> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. I think we must move on<22> because that is nearly an hour of our time. I am very<23> grateful to you. I was encouraged by Mr Sarathy's<24> contribution, if I may say so, and his approach<25> suggesting that the matter is fundamental. What we

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< 1> must all attack and what we must recommend is a< 2> fundamental attack, not tinkering with a screw here or< 3> a screw there, and it seems to me that the attendance< 4> here today supports that. Society will make the police< 5> and any people in authority accountable and it seems to< 6> me that is being taken on board by the police in< 7> Bradford. There is, I hope people will agree, there is< 8> a measure of optimism that the problem must be attacked

< 9> root and branch.<10> Thank you all for your contribution and I will now<11> ask the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council<12> to make their presentation to us.<13> I see that the leader of the Council who welcomed<14> us is there and he will tell us what form their<15> presentation is going to take.<16> COUNCILLOR MOHAMMED AJEEB: I will, as I say, set the<17> scene and make the presentation in a general way and<18> then I will ask my officers to follow me to make the<19> presentation in detail.<20> May I begin by saying that racism exists. Its<21> tentacles are spread far and wide. No institution is<22> free from its effects and the police are no exception.<23> The extent and magnitude of its effects may vary from<24> one city to another, from one institution to another,<25> but the existence of racism cannot be denied. Whether

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< 1> racism is intentional or unintentional, the effects on< 2> the victim are the same, so the question of intentional< 3> and unintentional racism as for black people and ethnic< 4> minorities are concerned, it is a very irrelevant term< 5> to use.< 6> In 1981 Lord Scarman, in his widely publicised< 7> report, made a clear reference to existence of< 8> institutional racism and yet it has already been< 9> pointed out after 17 years we are still quibbling with<10> its definitions and playing with words. It is sad and<11> disappointing. Had appropriate actions been taken on<12> the recommendations of Lord Scarman 17 years ago<13> perhaps today we would have seen Stephen Lawrence alive<14> and well and enjoying his life.<15> We cannot find solutions, sir, if we don't<16> acknowledge the problem. We can not move forward if we<17> are not sure where we stand now. Britain now has<18> become irreversibly a multi-racial and multi-cultural<19> nation. We have to acknowledge this reality before we<20> move forward. Bradford City Council does recognise<21> this fact and recognises the existence of racism. We<22> abhor racism. We believe it damages the lives of<23> people in the district. Racial violence happens even<24> in its most extreme port. There is no hiding this<25> fact. We are aware that racial incidents are under

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< 1> reported. We believe that the police still are not< 2> taking serious notice of racially-motivated incidents.< 3> They must treat racially-motivated incidents and racial< 4> harassment seriously.< 5> Moreover, racism undermines trust and confidence< 6> in the City's institutions. The confidence of ethnic< 7> minority communities and the police is still, here in

< 8> Bradford, very fragile. It must be improved. As it< 9> has been already said, that police do enjoy enormous<10> power. It is a very powerful institution and it is the<11> exercise of that power when it comes to dealing with<12> the members of ethnic communities that matters.<13> However, there is no room for total despair and<14> despondency. If left unchallenged racism would destroy<15> our city and our future. The third and fourth<16> generations of black and ethnic minority communities<17> are not going submit easily to any form of racism or<18> discrimination. They expect, and rightly deserve,<19> equal treatment and inclusion in every sphere of life<20> at all levels. That must be taken very seriously. I<21> must also say that there is no room for complacency.<22> The future depends on developing talents and harnessing<23> the energy of the whole community. The City Council<24> has a key leadership role in shaping the future of the<25> district. We continue to challenge racism in whatever

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< 1> form it appears, whether individual or organisational< 2> basis.< 3> The presentation that follows, sir, I hope will< 4> explain the Council's approach, positive approach, in< 5> tackling racially-motivated crime. We will ask if we< 6> can present the outcomes of our approach. Most< 7> important of all is the Council's commitment to< 8> continue development of positive initiatives and in< 9> strengthening our partnerships. Only by being<10> persistent will we be able to challenge<11> racially-motivated attitude and crimes in our<12> community.<13> DIANA CAVANAGH: My name is Diana Cavanagh. I am<14> Strategic Director of Education and I am here on behalf<15> of the Chief Executive of the Council.<16> Just to reflect, before I move on to the strategic<17> overview, what Councillor Ajeeb has just said very<18> clearly, this Council welcomes its multi-cultural<19> composition, it embraces that diversity and feels that<20> it enriches the life of the City and the district and<21> that is the basis upon which the policies and<22> strategies are based.<23> I would just point out that this is Bradford<24> district, because although we tend to focus on Bradford<25> City, and indeed particular parts of the City, Bradford

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< 1> district embraces areas like Keighley which are< 2> similarly diverse, ethnically and culturally.< 3> However, when the Bradford Commissioner reported< 4> on the disturbances in June 1995, they actually did< 5> focus on the City of Bradford, the spotlight was here< 6> and the Bradford Commission Report which was

< 7> commissioned by Bradford Congress looked at over< 8> arching issues. There were parallel reports looking at< 9> the schools and the education service by Ofsted to<10> Her Majesty's Inspectors and the MUAD to do its own<11> report on looking at schools and educational<12> achievement, which is something I would like to mention<13> a little further on. They gathered together<14> perspectives from individuals, from groups and from<15> institutions. They came to the conclusions and they<16> identified issues for action. In terms of the Council<17> and its strategies for a harmonious society within the<18> district, this is an area which was debated at some<19> length and in some depth a couple of years ago, and one<20> of the things we would say is that we feel we have made<21> some progress, but we are very conscious we have still<22> a very long way to go.<23> As the report has acknowledged, the Council has a<24> deeply rooted equal rights policy. It has statements<25> for employment, equal rights policy statement, it has

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< 1> guidelines for behaviour by employees. Racial equality< 2> is a key feature within those policies. These are kept< 3> under review and we have just completed the equal< 4> rights strategy review, looking at concepts of< 5> inclusion and equality.< 6> Of course, you can have all the policies in the< 7> world and we do have a lot of policies that directly< 8> and indirectly address racism, but the key question< 9> always relates to implementation and whether we are<10> delivering on those policies and we are conscious, of<11> course, that we do not do that all the time and<12> consistently all the time.<13> The strategies for delivery look to the work force<14> being made aware of its responsibilities. First of all<15> to each other, the Council expects certain standards<16> and the core is to expect every employee to give<17> respect and to give dignity to every colleague and also<18> expects every employee to give that same respect and<19> dignity to the people we serve in the district. They<20> are spelt out in our procedures on fair recruitment on<21> selection; they are spelt out in the training we offer<22> in that and in the various manuals we have, the<23> Bradford Manager Manuals and so on. If employees fall<24> below those exceptions, again we have procedures to<25> address that and to ensure no recurrence. That is the

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< 1> Council as employer.< 2> I would like to say something about the Council in< 3> terms of service delivery, because this is where the< 4> Council is looking to the long-term and it is very< 5> important to recognise that the nature of the ethnic

< 6> composition within the district is such that we know< 7> people have long roots in this district and they expect< 8> to be here and we expect to be here together in the< 9> years to come, and that has to be the basis for<10> long-term planning.<11> In education there are similar policies in other<12> areas of the Council's delivery and housing and social<13> services and so on. We look for policies and<14> commitments in immediate response to incidents, but we<15> look to the medium and long-term support and<16> development as well.<17> So in that vein we have policies within education<18> for schools, for dealing with bullying, for dealing<19> with racial harassment in schools, for work with the<20> police on personal security and on crime prevention and<21> response to those arrangements. In terms of awareness<22> and development within the education service and within<23> schools we support the interfaith education centre<24> which has developed the agreed syllabus, which is<25> widely regarded and recommended and has been brought in

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< 1> by other NEAs.< 2> We support interfaith assemblies within our< 3> schools and we support cultural awareness training< 4> courses which we offer, for example, to the police,< 5> among other groups and we network with our Euro cities< 6> and produce documents which are used across< 7> (inaudible). We ensure that racial harassment, racial< 8> awareness, cultural awareness is part of all of those< 9> policies, a part of the Authority's curriculum<10> statement, a part of the monitoring we undertake on<11> educational outcomes and achievement, on exclusions and<12> attendance statistics and we put a great deal of money<13> into supporting second language learning, which is a<14> major issue, a major area of development in Bradford.<15> Through the section I have been funding at the<16> Home Office, and one of our seven priorities within<17> education development plan which we are required to<18> produce by the DFED is the achievement of specific<19> groups, by ethnic minority pupils.<20> Those are the long-term strategies which the<21> Council would expect from all its services and those<22> are merely examples from the education service.<23> Central to the presentation from the Council is<24> for the whole Council and District is the community<25> plan which we will provide you with copies of, the

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< 1> original community plan, which will be familiar to many< 2> in this room. This was produced at a consultation with< 3> all households and was a direct follow-on to one of the< 4> criticisms within the Bradford Commission Report which

< 5> related to community leadership, and a statement that< 6> whereas Bradford Council had many policies that was< 7> seeking do deliver, there was an element of community< 8> leadership which was not so readily identifiable. The< 9> community plan addressed that and in consultation with<10> those who were invited to consult with everyone within<11> the district seemed this is an extension to the<12> neighbourhood forum work, we identified five priorities<13> to be carried out in partnership with other providers<14> in the District.<15> The five are: Rebuilding communities; partnerships<16> for local regeneration; better education for all; a<17> clean health and valued environment and fighting crime<18> for a safer district. None of those can be delivered<19> without partnerships and all of them are mainstream<20> work. They are not adult, they are not ad hoc, they<21> are not brought on initiatives over and above. They<22> are focusing on the mainstream work of the Council and<23> various partners in both strategic agencies and<24> voluntary agencies.<25> I am going to ask Frank Hanley, who is Policy

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< 1> Development Officer for Equality and Inclusion to< 2> enlarge on those partnerships and how they evolve,< 3> particularly fighting crime for a safer city and some< 4> of the areas that are of direct relevance to your< 5> Inquiry.< 6> FRANK HANLEY: I am the Policy Development Officer in< 7> the authority. I only plan to speak briefly and I am< 8> going to talk on partnerships. We have heard a little< 9> about the partnership the Council is working hard on is<10> Alliance and I will talk about the Council's<11> involvement with that project and what we have learnt<12> as an organisation in working in partnership.<13> The Council is playing its role in tackling<14> racially-motivated crime by working in partnership with<15> other public and voluntary agencies. The Council<16> learned earlier it could not tackle racially-motivated<17> crime on its own and hope to succeed.<18> Partnership is an essential element of our<19> approach. The Council works closely with key agencies<20> in developing initiatives to tackle racially-motivated<21> crime. The council has worked closely with the<22> Bradford Racial Equality Council over a number of<23> years. This is a healthy arms length relationship.<24> This enables the Council to collaborate with the REC on<25> projects and issues of joint interest. Equally the REC

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< 1> is able to deliver hard messages and support< 2> individuals and community groups in challenging the< 3> Council in some areas of its activity. The strength of

< 4> this partnership is regular and active communication at< 5> political and officer levels.< 6> In relation to racially-motivated crimes, the< 7> Council works particularly closely with the REC and the< 8> police to establish the Bradford Alliance Against< 9> Racial Harassment. Our colleagues at the REC will<10> provide details of the work.<11> However, Councillor Ian Greenwood, the leader of<12> the Council, chairs the Alliance and with his support<13> has come considerable time and resource commitments<14> from the Council. The Council has worked hard in<15> establishing this organisation and the pilot project<16> that has recently led to the successful lottery project<17> to extend the project through the whole district.<18> The power of BAARH, that is our pseudonym for it,<19> has harnessed key agencies to work together to tackle<20> racial harassment. It has established a mechanism<21> which is people friendly and goes a long way to<22> fighting crime, to encourage individuals to report<23> incidents of racial harassment that would previously<24> have gone under reported. This is a key element. The<25> public has not had the confidence of the local

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< 1> institutions to report. We know there is a lot more< 2> going on in Bradford and we see through this project< 3> people coming forward. It is a real indicator where< 4> the City is and as Councillor Ajeeb has made the point,< 5> until we know what we are dealing with we will not be< 6> able to tackle that thoroughly. Through the Alliance< 7> we have a more comprehensive collection of data and< 8> that is what is going to give us the basis on which to< 9> plan our future in supporting activities which are<10> going to tackle crime, particularly the perpetrators of<11> racially-motivated crime.<12> I have to say partnership is a buzz word, it is<13> being used all over the place. The Council's<14> establishment of BAARH has meant that not only<15> organisations trust each other at managerial level, it<16> has meant that organisations have had to become more<17> accountable for their actions or lack of actions at<18> grass roots level. We have always been very good with<19> our policies and intentions and our partnership and the<20> way we are going to publish this information that and<21> plan our activity, it is only on that basis we will<22> have a partnership with the public itself.<23> In addition, BAARH has provided an objective<24> structure which has led to much improved communication<25> with in the Council itself. I have to say in

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< 1> developing the BAARH the Council had its own task to< 2> do. We are a very large organisation and we have been

< 3> subject to all the problems of communication as well,< 4> and through BAARH we have been able to harness< 5> different directives to work more closely together to< 6> support the BAARH objective and at that has been< 7> evidenced in the work, the pilot area.< 8> Our challenge is to extend that to the rest of the< 9> district with BAARH, so it is a major challenge, so<10> partnership will only become real when we deliver that<11> across the whole authority.<12> The Council, alongside the police and other<13> agencies in the district, has now undertaken the Crime<14> and Disorder Audit. As part of that statutory<15> requirement of the Crime and Disorder Act a crime and<16> disorder reduction partner has been created. This body<17> been chaired by Councillor Ian Greenwood with the<18> police. This partnership will have an overview on all<19> crime and measures that will be employed to reduce<20> crime in the district. This is an extremely important<21> initiative and it is one of the partnerships and<22> relationships BAARH will be developing with this group<23> because it has over arching view on the crime.<24> Finally, I have to say partnerships do not exist<25> in a vacuum. Tackling racial harassment successfully

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< 1> and racially-motivated crime generally requires it to< 2> be in the mainstream of helpful planning and delivery.< 3> You have heard the word mainstream, but it is central< 4> to what we are about, and the only way we can see a way< 5> forward and a future.< 6> In each of these partnerships the Council will< 7> continue to develop its work and these are the things< 8> at the heart of the matter, it is about listening to< 9> the people. Prioritising and planning our work with<10> its partners, we will be delivering and monitoring and<11> evaluating that implementation. We will be publishing<12> the results of that implementation.<13> Just finally, the implementation of the policy<14> actually depends on each and every employee of the<15> Bradford Council. We have the policies and it is the<16> people who will be delivering them. As Diana Cavanagh<17> made the point, we train the staff, we have exceptions<18> of our staff and they are at the heart of the delivery,<19> so on that point I would like introduce Sharmila<20> Gandhi, our Community Relations Officer and she is<21> going to talk about some of the practical elements.<22> SHARMILA GANDHI: As Frank said, I am Community Safety<23> Policy Officer for the District Council. I would<24> really like to spend the next five minutes giving you<25> some actual examples of racially-motivated crimes and

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< 1> incidents which have involved the local authority

< 2> through one or more of its directorates as. Doing so,< 3> I hope to highlight where possible successful and< 4> unsuccessful outcomes and very briefly look at examples< 5> of good practice and hopefully give some< 6> recommendations on behalf of the Council for future< 7> workers.< 8> Example one: During April/May 1996 there was much< 9> tension between students of Beckfoot and Nabwood<10> schools. Fights took place in and out of schools. The<11> schools both appeared to be unable to diffuse the<12> situation at its early stage. Although I have to say<13> they tried to do what they could internally within the<14> school. Difficulties arose because former pupils of<15> the school aged 18, 19, Asian males, became involved<16> and added to the problems by fighting outside the<17> school. The word spread around local pubs, in schools<18> catchment areas and resulted in parents organising<19> themselves with a view to addressing the situation<20> themselves.<21> The situation had all the ingredients of a major<22> disturbance. The thumbnail sketch is not all the<23> details. What was the outcome? The local youth<24> workers contacted the schools' headteachers to find out<25> what was happening. They began to speak to groups of

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< 1> young people in the area to attempt to diffuse the< 2> situation. They informed all other youth group leaders< 3> in the area about the tensions and asked them to speak< 4> to their members. In addition to this, the Youth< 5> Service informed a senior Home Office official,< 6> Lorna White, who may be here, who was visiting Bradford< 7> when the situation occurred.< 8> Dialogue took place between the relevant parties< 9> and the Council of Mosques. The situation did not<10> escalate any further, in fact was diffused.<11> What was our verdict? We think that was a<12> successful outcome. Why? We feel there was key<13> response from the Youth Service. There was<14> communication between youth workers and young people<15> and communication between relevant agencies, including<16> the Youth Service, schools, police etc.<17> Schools can influence what happens inside the<18> school, but cannot always influence what happens<19> outside and the emphasis is very much on the importance<20> of other agencies working with the schools.<21> Example 2: This took place in the summer of<22> 1996. Large groups, around 60 plus, young, white<23> people used to congregate in the Shipley Town Centre<24> area. Four Asian young men from the Shipley area came<25> into Shipley Town Centre to buy pizza to take home. As

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< 1> the young men entered the pizza shop they were greeted< 2> by white young men who racially abused them and started< 3> to physically assault them. One of the Asian men was< 4> stabbed. Luckily for him stayed alive, he was okay,< 5> and the other three who were badly beaten managed to< 6> run away. The boy who was stabbed came from a very< 7> respectable and had a career in modelling and acting.< 8> Again, a brief thumbnail sketch.< 9> Outcome: The Youth Service visited the family<10> after the event, but the family, who were deeply<11> traumatised by the event, felt they could no longer<12> remain in Shipley and moved out of the area.<13> Verdict: We think that was an unsuccessful<14> outcome. The young man was stabbed, he was injured;<15> the family traumatised and forced to move away from<16> their home and community. Could this have been<17> prevented and, if so, how? Probably the answer to that<18> is yes, it could have been. More proactive, integrated<19> crime reduction strategies, had they existed at the<20> time, might have helped prevent the situation.<21> Since this incident there have been measures taken<22> in the Shipley Town Centre area, such as CCTV schemes<23> and working between our Shipley Area Panel working<24> closely with the police and other areas and again more<25> youth service involvement working closely with the

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< 1> police.< 2> Example three: This involves another part of the< 3> district, Keighley, which is one of the areas within< 4> the district which has a large youth population and a< 5> significant number of Asian, predominantly Muslim,< 6> youth population.< 7> In February 1998 an incident involving Asian young< 8> people in Keighley the whole thing stemmed from a< 9> parking ticket issued by the police which was thought<10> to be unfair. It was a perception. There was lots of<11> misinformation resulting in protests from Asian young<12> people who felt victimised by the police. Again, a<13> potential riot could have been on our hands. It was<14> identified by the Youth Service working closely with<15> the police in the area that the relationship between<16> police officers on the ground and local youth workers<17> was near to nonexistence, yet both agencies worked with<18> the same group of young people. The police experiences<19> of youth work in the past were negative. There was<20> distrust on both sides about the agencies roles.<21> Outcome: The outcome was a dialogue was created<22> between the police and youth service officers and the<23> aim was to build up a positive relationship between<24> youth workers and police officers, so as to improve the<25> relationship between police and young people and create

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< 1> some sort of medium via the youth service and young< 2> people and the police.< 3> The work which is currently on going has< 4> identified a number of things. The Asian young people< 5> say they think the police stop and searched them more< 6> than anyone else, but figures do not reflect this.< 7> Further analysis of the situation has identified that< 8> the police definition of stop and search is not< 9> necessarily the young people's definition. Young<10> people in Keafly have been under the impression that<11> being stopped and spoken to by a police officer<12> constitutes stop and search and that is not the case.<13> Young people, particularly Asian young people, are now<14> getting better informed on these matters through this<15> working between the youth service and the police.<16> What is the verdict? It is a successful<17> outcome. It is an on going process. A three-way<18> dialogue between the police, young people and the Youth<19> Service has been created. We are sharing information<20> more and there is joint working.<21> Examples like these are many and it is difficult<22> in the short time to give you more details. In<23> relation to other areas of the Council we would like to<24> highlight some examples of good practice, particularly<25> in relation to housing.

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< 1> Housing has a policy eliminating housing< 2> harassment from housing estates owned and managed by< 3> the council. Housing have adopted the Commission for< 4> Racial Equality's definition of racial harassment. A< 5> multi-agency approach is adopted in relation to< 6> tackling racial harassment and the Housing Directorate< 7> work closely with BAARH, which has been mentioned so< 8> many times this morning. Last year 60 cases of racial< 9> harassment were reported of which 64% were resolved,<10> 23% were on-going at the time of monitoring and 13% of<11> victims rehoused on racial harassment grounds.<12> However, the Council has been able to obtain, and<13> I think this is a very important point, to obtain an<14> eviction order on racial harassment grounds. This is<15> due to lack of evidence and victims and witnesses<16> fearing reprisals. This is a weak link we need to give<17> victims and witnesses far more support and I don't<18> think this is down to us locally, there needs to be a<19> national move from central government to make this<20> happen. A large number of housing staff have been<21> trained on racial harassment procedures and more are<22> being trained. The Council has a successful tenancy<23> enforcement team which dealt with 339 cases in its<24> first year. By March this year 187 cases have been<25> resolved, 144 cases were unresolved, 77 notices of

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< 1> intent to seek possession had been served and 50< 2> tenancy had ended where tenants were guilty of< 3> nuisance, drug offences or harassment, seven county< 4> court judgments were obtained. Again a multi-agency< 5> approach of working closely with the police officers on< 6> the ground.< 7> In one police division, Ecles Hill, I am aware< 8> through my work that the police work on a daily basis< 9> with a tenancy enforcement rule, sharing information<10> and expertise. Currently the Council, including<11> housing, social services, legal and others are<12> preparing for the new anti-social behaviour orders<13> which will lead to the tenancy enforcement service<14> being extended.<15> Although we as a Council have made significant<16> progress in the last two to three years in tackling<17> racially-motivated crime, we know there is a lot more<18> we can do. At the local level there are partnerships<19> in place to tackle all these issues. We believe it is<20> not about more partnerships, but about making those<21> partnerships that currently exist better and smarter,<22> working more effectively. We know there is much more<23> work that can be done in relation to current agency<24> training around racially-motivated crime and indeed we<25> are looking currently at the training implications of

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< 1> the Crime and Disorder Act. Communication in the< 2> sharing of information is a key feature of effective< 3> partnerships and this is an area where we feel there< 4> needs to be far more development.< 5> We need to build on the good work that is already< 6> being done in the district which involves young people< 7> for community safety. Examples like the youth team,< 8> regeneration teams initiative and can I just say that< 9> because of the Crime and Disorder Act and the work that<10> is being done, we have engaged young people recently to<11> work with us to consult other young people in the<12> district about their views on crime and disorder and<13> frighteningly some of the things we have heard and seen<14> through at that consultation, things like young people<15> feeling that they have to carry weapons to protect<16> themselves, are the kind of things we are going to have<17> to address.<18> Finally, on a national level we believe the Home<19> Secretary should emphasise the importance of tackling<20> racially-motivated crime and reflect this in his key<21> performance indicators. We believe if perpetrators of<22> racially-motivated crime are going to be successfully<23> prosecuted and punished, there must be resources made<24> available to provide adequate victim and witness<25> support schemes and professional witness schemes.

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< 1> Central government needs to provide resources in this< 2> area. The national curriculum needs to provide the< 3> history and contribution of all its ethnic minority< 4> communities.< 5> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. That is a very useful< 6> contribution. We have time for one or two questions< 7> and then we will adjourn for a short time.< 8> DR STONE: The one question I wanted to raise with your< 9> team, in particular Sharmila, is the conflict, the<10> problem about money and power and funding and yet the<11> need for so many of the things that you are advocating<12> needing continuity and financial security. When you<13> talk about joint agency training, multi-agency working,<14> which is obviously very important and the partnership<15> such as the Bradford Alliance, they do need to be<16> funded these things, and I just feel local authority,<17> in a way, has some of the biggest funds available,<18> although you may feel very squeezed, I am sure,<19> although there are the funds available for long-term<20> funding. If that long-term funding is given to these<21> multi-agency workings, same with the police too, then<22> there is a danger of the control being so tight that<23> the confidence is lost in the local community, and we<24> have a paper given to us from the Manningham Residents<25> Association, which says some quite bitter things about

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< 1> statutory authorities in this area. That sort of power< 2> to say things can often mean that if you want to do< 3> that you will lose your funding. It was really the< 4> concept of the power, the control and the capacity for< 5> withdrawing funding if the multi-agency working becomes< 6> uncomfortable to the funder.< 7> Sharmila, maybe this is something you may come< 8> across most of all.< 9> SHARMILA GANDHI: Yes, you hit the nail on the head<10> basically. Funding is probably one of the key issues<11> that partnerships grapple with throughout their<12> lifetime, from start to end, and I think for me there<13> is a number of things: The cliche, "where there's a<14> will there's a way", that is how partnerships, I think,<15> operate. It is about goodwill and it is about people<16> saying: "Right, we can put this into it, we can work<17> together, we will find a way to deliver", but I think<18> it has got to change. It can't simply be about<19> goodwill.<20> I think it is the Audit Commission who have<21> recently presented various things on community safety<22> and changes in how we approach community safety and<23> they have said we must get away from this short-term<24> funding project-driven initiatives to a long-term<25> investment into community safety. If I can give an

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< 1> example: one area in the country, in order to try and< 2> deliver long-term community safety, when it got< 3> community safety partnership together, said that the< 4> partners could not come to the table unless they< 5> brought their cheque books and I think it needs to be< 6> as up front as that. If you are really seriously< 7> wanting to tackle these problems, you must contribute.< 8> You must contribute right from the beginning. Although< 9> the local authority does have resourced and I think we<10> as an authority put an enormous amount of resources<11> into community safety, into tackling racially-motivated<12> crime, into domestic violence and other initiatives, it<13> cannot simply be seen as something the local authority<14> put into the pot. It is not just about local authority<15> funding. It has to be about all the partners putting<16> something in that pot and I also think there needs to<17> be an emphasis on the private sector and how that is<18> involved and brought in. The private sector is a major<19> employer and these issues effect the private sector as<20> much as they effect the public sector as well. They<21> are victims of the crime and they are partners and they<22> need to contribute to the pot.<23> DIANA CAVANAGH: Could I possibly give of a very brief<24> answer on that, because the section in funding,<25> Bradford has the second largest scheme of funding from

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< 1> the Home Office and the uncertainty of that has< 2> undermined the long-term strategy for how we improve< 3> education achievement for ethnic minorities.< 4> BISHOP SENTAMU: Sharmila Gandhi, how long have you< 5> been in your position?< 6> SHARMILA GANDHI: You know the answer to that, 10< 7> months.< 8> BISHOP SENTAMU: Since you were appointed as community< 9> safety officer have the number of reporting racial<10> incidents improved from your experience?<11> SHARMILA GANDHI: Probably not. I don't think my<12> appointment would make a major difference in the first<13> 10 months to the reporting of racially-motivated<14> incidents because I don't have a direct causal link<15> with that particular area of work. I have to say that<16> my aim would be, in this post, to develop a community<17> safety or crime reduction strategy in partnership with<18> (inaudible) which aims to improve the reporting of<19> racially-motivated incidents and aims to tackle those<20> problems more effectively.<21> BISHOP SENTAMU: Diana Cavanagh, you quickly refer to<22> this rather huge thick report, the Bradford Commission<23> Report and to inquiry into the wide implications of<24> police disorders in Bradford which occurred 9, 10,<25> 11 June 1995 and there is a section there which talks

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< 1> about need for policing by consent, and I quote,< 2> somebody said:< 3> "The problem lies at constable level. We< 4> discussed with the higher-ups but they don't or can't< 5> put their house in order."< 6> It goes on in section 6.31 to say there is a wide< 7> gap between the police and those who are policing and< 8> it needed to be brief. Do you see since 1996, when< 9> this report came out, there has been an improvement,<10> that the gap has being bridged and people are being<11> policed by consent from your perspective?<12> DIANA CAVANAGH: I think from my perspective where I<13> would see that is there are much more effective<14> partnerships now than there were in 1995. There is a<15> kind of successful networking that Sharmila described,<16> in that specific incidents are more likely to happen<17> and one of the outcomes was from the Council high<18> priority in the community plan, fighting crime for a<19> safe district, because we felt we had a part to play in<20> bringing that closer together; that it wasn't just an<21> issue for the police, it was an issue for the Council<22> as well and the kind of resources that we command.<23> MR COOK: Just one question in relation to education:<24> The police at the end of the day are dealing with the<25> results of racism, and if racism is ever to be tackled

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< 1> successfully it needs fundamental approach. One of the< 2> things suggested to us is that racism begins in< 3> schools, even preschool, it has been suggested children< 4> as young as 3 and 6 years old show an attitude in< 5> racist behaviour.< 6> What avenue do you see through education in< 7> addressing that in the long-term? Is there a vehicle< 8> through the national curriculum of addressing those< 9> issues?<10> DIANA CAVANAGH: I would reflect to what the Assistant<11> Chief said, that racist means society and children come<12> from contacts in which racism is part of the<13> discussion. Schools reflects society, but should lead<14> society out of that kind of pattern of behaviour, so we<15> would say the long-term strategies I described. We<16> would see a curriculum input, an awareness for children<17> of the richness of cultural diversity. We would see<18> schools challenging behaviour by staff and pupils that<19> was racist, and we would hope at national level there<20> is a greater appreciation of this and the requirements<21> which nationally are put into schools. The national<22> curriculum is unduly Euro-centric and it does not<23> acknowledge, it does not celebrate, the various<24> cultures that our children come from. This is an

<25> appointment we have made within the national curriculum

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< 1> review, a point we have made to the DFE of Ofsted and< 2> we would hope in the current review that would be< 3> addressed. It can be addressed locally, it is< 4> addressed through things like the fact we support< 5> interfaith assemblies and so on, but schools are< 6> (inaudible) in the national curriculum and it doesn't< 7> help if nationally there is a colour blindness.< 8> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for the< 9> contributions. They have been very valuable. I am<10> sure the presence of Sharmila Gandhi in her position<11> and the widening of that influence can do nothing but<12> good. We are very grateful to you for coming here<13> today. We will break until 12.05.<14> (Short adjournment)<15> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, ladies and<16> gentlemen. I wonder if you very kindly would settle<17> down now because we want to begin again.<18> The next contribution is probably West Yorkshire<19> Probation Service. Can I indicate that we have a<20> considerable amount of documentation, which we have,<21> and which we will digest of course. I will now ask the<22> Probation Service to make its presentation.<23> RANDEL BARROWS: Sir William, panel members, firstly,<24> apologies from our chief probation officer who, as you<25> know, could not be here today.

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< 1> THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, we met her yesterday.< 2> RANDEL BARROWS: My name is Randel Barrows and I am< 3> responsible for the Probation Service in the Bradford< 4> district, and the comments I am going to make reflect< 5> the West Yorkshire Probation Service's views, but also,< 6> to some extent, the views of the Association of Chief< 7> Officers of Probation.< 8> The Probation Service team here this morning is< 9> Nasim Akhter on my left, a probation officer for<10> Bradford West; Stuart Macpherson, a senior probation<11> officer for Bradford West and; Mohammed Aslem, who is<12> the manager of HIMAT/UMMID projects.<13> There are two elements I would like to comment on<14> in broad terms: firstly, racially-motivated crime and,<15> secondly, the response of the criminal justice system<16> to individuals from the ethnic minority communities.<17> A little bit of background in terms of<18> racially-motivated crime. We know from the British<19> Crime Survey nationally that crimes committed against<20> black people or Asians were judged to be racially<21> motivated in about 15 per cent of cases. This compares<22> with a figure of crimes against white people of<23> 0.5 per cent. We also know that whereas 55 per cent of

<24> crimes against white people were reported to the<25> police, only 29 per cent of racially-motivated crimes

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< 1> with black or Asian victims were reported.< 2> Of course you heard earlier this morning of the< 3> work being done in the West Yorkshire area, and< 4> particularly in Bradford, in relation to addressing< 5> this problem and the Probation Service supports the< 6> development of the halfway house reporting centres< 7> which in Bradford have been developed under the< 8> leadership of the Alliance Against Racial Harassment.< 9> The Probation Service in Bradford is also a partner in<10> Project 3, which is a project in the Leeds Road area of<11> Bradford designed to increase the visibility and<12> availability of criminal justice services, including<13> victim support to the local, mainly Asian population,<14> in this area.<15> The Probation Service in Bradford prepares about<16> 3,000 reports annually for the Courts, supervises 2,000<17> offenders on probation and community service orders and<18> there are a further 1,000 people who are released from<19> prison on licence supervision.<20> Along with colleagues in the Youth Justice<21> Service, we have a unique opportunity to identify and<22> challenge racist attitudes amongst offenders, whether<23> or not the offence actually committed was identified as<24> racially motivated. ACOP believes that racial<25> motivation should be suspected whenever the victim is

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< 1> from an ethnic minority.< 2> Until now in the probation service we have tended< 3> to have polices which reflect "zero tolerance" of< 4> racist behaviour or language. These were designed to< 5> give a strong message about our organisational equal< 6> opportunity principle and to protect our own ethnic< 7> minority staff and other service users.< 8> However, a recent Home Office study (Rae Sibbitt,< 9> 1997) and other research in the Home Office suggests<10> that we need to re-examine this approach; only if<11> racist attitude of behaviour is identified can we hope<12> to challenge the denial, racialisation and minimisation<13> that goes along with it.<14> We have made a start in West Yorkshire by<15> developing a structured module with our Intensive<16> Probation Programme which aims to challenge and change<17> racist attitudes. Nationally a resource pack for<18> probation officers is about to be launched. This, I<19> think, you have information about. It is a pack called<20> "From Murmur to Murder". This will be particularly<21> useful if the Crime and Disorder Act leads to a greater<22> number of convictions for offences which are identified

<23> as racially motivated.<24> ACOP believes that in general terms, training on<25> race or culture awareness or in dealing with

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< 1> racially-motivated offenders should be developed on a< 2> multi-agency basis: police officers, CPS, Courts,< 3> Probation and Prison staff could be trained together on< 4> the identification, assessment and response to< 5> racially-motivated crime on a "whole systems" basis.< 6> In West Yorkshire, and particularly in Bradford,< 7> we are justly proud of partnership work, and you have< 8> heard reference to that this morning across a range of< 9> issues in the district. In criminal justice terms this<10> has proved particularly effective in seeking to protect<11> the public from the most dangerous of offenders through<12> assessment and management techniques. Similar systems<13> and protocols could be developed and applied to<14> protecting some of the most vulnerable sections of the<15> community from racially-motivated crime. So we are<16> talking about a model of anti-racist cooperation in<17> dealing with racially-motivated crime.<18> The secondary area I would like to comment on is<19> the response of the criminal justice system, and<20> particularly the probation service, to offenders from<21> ethnic minority groups. It seems obvious to me that if<22> the victims of crime from some communities believe they<23> get a raw deal from the criminal justice system then<24> they are far less likely to support that system in<25> dealing with crime, particularly if there is the added

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< 1> perception of discriminatory persecution of young< 2> males.< 3> We have known for several years that black people< 4> and Asians were over-represented in the criminal< 5> justice system, and especially in the prison system.< 6> Whilst in part this is because they are also< 7> under-represented in the jobs market, there are clearly< 8> other factors in play.< 9> In the West Yorkshire Probation Service we<10> introduced a comprehensive ethnic monitoring of all<11> probation work in the early 1990s and we became<12> painfully aware that aspects of probation practice were<13> discriminatory, in effect, although there was no<14> evidence of intention.<15> We have made a number of responses to these<16> findings, and I am going to summarise those responses<17> rather than give detail:<18> Feedback to staff on the way in which they were<19> discriminating, particularly in pre-sentence reports<20> for Courts;<21> Staff training in anti-racism and cultural

<22> awareness;<23> A positive action and recruitment programme;<24> Staff employed as Probation Service officers and<25> interpreters;

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< 1> In Bradford and Calderdale services, delivering in< 2> partnership with a voluntary sector partner to build< 3> bridges with local neighbours and families so that our< 4> work Asian offenders could be better understood and< 5> better informed.< 6> It might be that similar developments in the other< 7> criminal justice agencies would flow from the< 8> introduction of ethnic monitoring and we strongly< 9> recommend comprehensive ethnic monitoring in all of the<10> criminal justice agencies and we believe the area of<11> criminal justice agencies should take a lead in this<12> respect.<13> Finally, sir, the Probation Service is keen to<14> support preventative work. We are partners in the<15> district crime and disorder strategy and we recognise<16> that much racist behaviour is borne out of attitudes<17> developed early in life. In Bradford we offer a peer<18> mediation and conflict resolution training service to<19> schools as a part of our crime prevention strategy.<20> This is part of a wider Local Education Authority<21> strategy reflected in the developing of the behaviour<22> support plan.<23> I would like to hand over now to Stuart Macpherson<24> who will tell you more about aspects of our work in<25> Bradford.

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< 1> STUART MACPHERSON: Sir William and panel, I would like< 2> to speak briefly as an operational manager working in< 3> the west constituency of Bradford. We have a large< 4> team that covers an area that has a large minority of< 5> Asian and black population. The most obvious concern< 6> that I find is to provide a statutory service on behalf< 7> of the community and the Court to this population< 8> because from experience and research we find that we< 9> are often misunderstood and often that the services we<10> provide are felt to be irrelevant and insensitive.<11> In order to address this, we are developing joint<12> approaches with the community and more specifically we<13> have entered into a partnership with the projects<14> called (inaudible). I believe we have written details<15> of that and in a moment I will hand over to Nasim<16> Akhter and Mohammed Aslem who will give you more<17> information about that project.<18> I would like to say how operationally we try to<19> match needed resource. For racially-motivated<20> offenders or offences this at present is very

<21> difficult. We do not yet have the provisions of the<22> Crime and Disorder Act that would ensure that<23> racially-motivated offenders are charged and prosecuted<24> as such. However, even with this category on the<25> statute as now we still have difficulties as the

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< 1> information is not always there. In effect, it is a< 2> bit of a guessing game. What will help us and helps us< 3> at present is to have detailed information about the< 4> sex, age and ethnic origin of the offender, similar< 5> details of the victim and the context of the offence.< 6> We rely very heavily on our court staff to provide< 7> this information and if it is highlighted as "maybe< 8> this is a racially-motivated offence" it is suspicion< 9> enough and key for us to treat it as such and work with<10> the person on that basis.<11> Randel Barrows said some methods that we employ<12> and I would like to just say that nevertheless it is<13> difficult to work with racism individuals, particularly<14> as they frequently will try to hide and deny that this<15> is in fact a part of their motivation for offending.<16> The services blanket "no tolerance" policy helps. It<17> empowers our staff and helps us deal with obvious<18> abuses. But the reality is that when we want to<19> challenge people, with the object of changing their<20> behaviour, we have to sometimes engage with them and<21> that can be very difficult and painful and bearing in<22> mind that we work with the staff who are also the<23> subject of abuse on racial grounds we have to be<24> particularly sensitive to their needs and wishes and as<25> operational manager it is my job to respond to those

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< 1> sensitivities and allocate when accordingly.< 2> That is not to say that we run away from< 3> problems. Frequently, the best way of challenging a< 4> racially-motivated offender is to confront him with< 5> somebody who he or she has a lot of misconceptions and< 6> preconceptions about. Nevertheless, the point to be< 7> made is that we try to be sensitive to this wherever< 8> possible.< 9> What to me is a more frequent operational concern<10> is ensuring offenders who themselves come from minority<11> social groups get a fair and relevant service.<12> Locally, we attempt to match need where we can. We<13> provide interpreter services for key languages and seem<14> to cover other languages on a brought in basis.<15> We also provide cultural awareness<16> interpretation. This is either through our own<17> interpreters or through members of the building<18> project. This, in effect, is a facility that when we<19> make enquiries or we are actively supervising an

<20> offender we have somebody else involved who has<21> familiarity with that person's community, with their<22> cultural background and can advise and assist the<23> probation officer in making appropriate decisions about<24> whether that offender is supervised.<25> Finally, I would like to say and add that as an

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< 1> operational manager I often feel ill-equipped to< 2> respond to the needs that I find and I rely very much,< 3> as the service does as a whole, on the experience of< 4> our core staff. That is, probation officers who< 5> day-to-day have to face offenders and it is their< 6> experience often as the recipients of racism and< 7> prejudice themselves that guides us and helps< 8> formularise our own polices.< 9> I would just like to finish by adding my own<10> tribute to them and to acknowledge that as a service we<11> learn from them as much as we learn from our polices.<12> I would now like to hand over to Nasim Akhter who<13> is one of the officers in my team, but who also works<14> closely with the HIMAT project.<15> THE CHAIRMAN: We have the 1998 paper and other<16> documentation.<17> NAISM AKHTER: Sir, I am Nasim Akhter. I am based at<18> the Bradford office and I cover the Bradford West<19> area. I am also seconded to the HIMAT project which is<20> based in Bradford.<21> I want to cover two areas really. One is really<22> the school work we do, which is around crime prevention<23> and, secondly, the methods we use when we are working<24> with Asian offenders that we have developed quite<25> recently.

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< 1> Coming back to the schools work. Part of the< 2> youth project, which you will hear about later on from< 3> Mohammed, is about developing the services in< 4> partnership with local agencies and police statutory< 5> and voluntary sectors to get away and divert young< 6> people away from crime.< 7> BISHOP SENTAMU: I do not think it can be heard, I am< 8> sorry. Do you mind raising your voice. Imagine you< 9> are speaking to a group of unruly clergy who cannot<10> hear you.<11> NASIM AKHTER: We work at both middle schools and<12> higher schools in Bradford 8 and 9 and we target youth<13> above the age of 14 who are at risk of being excluded<14> and are likely to obtain lower grades at the end of the<15> fifth year or at the end of Year 11. We agree with the<16> schools that we will come in on a weekly basis to look<17> at areas of work or areas of concern that may well lead<18> to their exclusion from school and may later on deny

<19> them opportunities in education and finding work.<20> We review with the schools and we evaluate our<21> work with the schools as well. The main areas we cover<22> with the youth in the school are really about the life<23> of an Asian person living in Bradford. What are the<24> pressures? Why do they behave in such a way? We look<25> at anger and temper control. We look at family

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< 1> pressures, religious pressures, cultural pressures. We< 2> look at careers. We look at drug awareness and its< 3> prevention and we look at awareness of religion as< 4> well.< 5> More recently we were successful in getting help< 6> from the Drug Action team in Bradford and we< 7> successfully worked with the young people that are< 8> around drugs and we at the end of, say, a 10 week< 9> programme we had a drugs performance that was about<10> drugs and how young people react and risk taking<11> behaviour that would lead them to be arrested later<12> on.<13> We also looked at the family pressures. That is<14> one of the areas that we work with. The other area is<15> our statutory work which really is about working with<16> offenders over the age of 16 or 14 should I say. We<17> use a cultural specific approach when working with<18> young people or with people. This avoids victimising<19> people and that we continue with an attitude that is<20> egocentric. We start from the offenders frame of<21> reference and we recognise the clients' needs . This<22> is because our main business is about changing people's<23> behaviour and attitudes. If we want people not to<24> re-offend we have to look at that.<25> What do we mean by culture? We identify three

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< 1> areas. One is the family. We look at the extended< 2> family. We look at the traditions. We look at the< 3> concept of individuality versus community. We try and< 4> come from a community approach or a family approach.< 5> We may do more than one visit to a family at< 6> pre-sentence report stage to find out whether the< 7> family know that the person has committed a crime. We< 8> look at how that impacts on them and how it impacts on< 9> the whole family and the community because, like the<10> wider community, smaller communities have different<11> values and beliefs and they ostracise individuals and<12> families.<13> We also look at the aspect of marriage. Many of<14> the Asian families we work with, the parents'<15> expectations is that people will be married fairly soon<16> and that a young person does not really become an adult<17> until they are married. So we have to work in

<18> partnership with the parents about changing this<19> behaviour, about looking at family problems that may<20> have led to some offending.<21> The last area is religion. Many of the young<22> people we work with say: "We are pressurised into<23> going to the Mosque. We want to go, but we are<24> pressurised, and we want to go on our own terms." The<25> other side is they don't have the awareness that they

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< 1> need to understand what religion means for them, so< 2> they may use aspects like it is all right to offend< 3> because God -- it is destined and what we do is look< 4> from an Islamic perspective and say: "God says you are< 5> individually accountable for all of your actions and< 6> those actions affect you and affect your family and the< 7> community." I think that is really important because< 8> we are talking about people's values, we are talking< 9> about changing people's behaviour and we really need to<10> look at those aspects.<11> What does it mean for us as probation officers?<12> It means we have to do more for them. It means we have<13> to speak with the family rather than just relying on<14> the offender. We have to build close links with the<15> family, close relationships as well. We have to share<16> information about our work with the offender and with<17> the family, so the family understands what it means to<18> be on probation or a community service order or<19> supervision order.<20> This means that if, say, an offender fails to<21> attend an appointment that we can ring the family and<22> say: "Where is your son? He agreed to be here."<23> They will often get them on the phone and say:<24> "You apologise and go in." That is important if we are<25> going to be successful.

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< 1> Really, that is all I want to cover. I will pass< 2> over now.< 3> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. I would like to< 4> say to Mohammed Aslem that we have your written< 5> of course document here.< 6> MOHAMMED ASLEM: Sir William, the panel, before I start< 7> I would like to let the panel know where I come from,< 8> what does this mean and what is HIMAT. HIMAT was set< 9> up in 1991 in partnership with a lot of statutory<10> voluntary agencies in Halifax. At that time people in<11> the criminal justice system, especially the senior<12> managers, were aware that some young Asian kids were<13> getting into serious and persistent offending and maybe<14> the service which the Probation Service had to offer<15> was not reaching them and that was the start.<16> Now, I did say "partnership". That does not mean

<17> I am a partner or bad fellow of probation service<18> here. I have come here today because I wanted to<19> come. Not as a front to anybody else. One of the<20> things is that I believe in what I do. My trustees<21> believe in what we do. The only reason we work in<22> Bradford and Halifax is the senior management that the<23> West Yorkshire Probation Service have -- they think the<24> same way we are thinking that maybe the service has not<25> been as effective and to enhance the service of this

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< 1> Yorkshire Probation Service.< 2> Now, to move on from there and say what is so< 3> different? You are talking about the community. These< 4> kids are born in this country, especially the younger< 5> people we work with, they are born in this country.< 6> Nasim has just mentioned about the community, about the< 7> family, about the extended family, about the welfare< 8> support within that extended family. One element of< 9> support is not available and that is to do with the<10> criminal justice because it is my community, my<11> culture, honour is very important in that and if you<12> seem to know a lot about Probation Service or some<13> agencies like that people say: "Oh, you must have<14> offenders in your family." So, the main thing is what<15> the Probation Service does and the services it has on<16> offer -- they do not reach a lot of the communities.<17> One of my main works is ensuring that the parents<18> start getting this information. One of the projects we<19> have submitted is a scheme we call "Cautioning Plus".<20> If you were to ask any person from Punjab or from Asia<21> or south-east Asia, what does guilt mean to them,<22> guilt, and if it is translated, especially from<23> somebody from a rural background, it comes out as<24> "fault of". Not my fault. Right? I hit him, but it<25> wasn't my fault. The criminal justice system -- the

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< 1> law in this country looks at the act, the actual act of< 2> busting the nose. With a lot of cases, when we go to< 3> parents, the parents are saying: "Our children are not< 4> guilty. It wasn't their fault." Now, we have got to< 5> try to talk to those parents and make them aware of< 6> what the law states.< 7> On the cautioning side, if a child is denying, the< 8> parents are denying about a particular offence, and the< 9> proof is there, we get the information from the police<10> on the pro 60s. We go and visit the parents and inform<11> them about the system, about the procedure, and taking<12> into account that fault and guilt and trying to<13> convince the parents that they have got to start<14> colluding with the child and look at the actual act and<15> nine times out of 10 the parents accept that.

<16> We talk to the parents and ask if they will<17> support the child. We speak to a young person and say<18> are you willing to take or have some work done with<19> you? If they accept that we do an action plan. We<20> present that to the actual case referral panel and<21> since now or until now we have been very successful<22> with that. We started this just as an initiative for<23> ourselves getting the information to the parents.<24> Well, now in the Crime and Disorder Bill that is going<25> to be part of the Act itself. We have been doing it

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< 1> for 3 years, but our reason was different.< 2> Furthermore from there, when Nasim talked about< 3> families, Nasim talked about one of the families, but< 4> it does not mean we go and tell everything we do with a< 5> client to their families.< 6> She mentioned about religion. Whatever you can< 7> say about the young Asians we work with, specially the< 8> Muslim ones, one thing that is deep down inside them is< 9> their faith. They believe in that. Now, we have got<10> to start here to confront offending behaviour. If you<11> can tackle him by his inner beliefs you are<12> succeeding. In that respect we use the religion<13> because we know those beliefs.<14> We do the same work with offenders and<15> Court orders. We hold the parents to be very important<16> because these young people live with their parents.<17> Going back to saying where are we trying to get in<18> Bradford: In Halifax we have become a crime prevention<19> initiative with everything from study support all the<20> way to study support, working in schools where kids are<21> excluded, working in primary schools, kids on the<22> verges of exclusion and suddenly we become a source of<23> information which the parents find reliable and in<24> their own views confidential enough to turn to us if<25> they require any information. I think I will stop

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< 1> there.< 2> THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, thank you very much. Can you tell< 3> me what the size of your force is? It is charitably< 4> funded, is it not? What is the size of it? How many< 5> people are functioning under your umbrella?< 6> MOHAMMED ASLEM: We have got six full-time staff because< 7> we have got an office in (inaudible) as well.< 8> DR STONE: Are you talking about HIMAT?< 9> MOHAMMED ASLEM: UMMID is an arm of HIMAT. We could not<10> name HIMAT as a name here because there was already a<11> project in existence called UMMID.<12> THE CHAIRMAN: The only one other question that I have<13> is really to do with the investigation of<14> racially-motivated crime. There are inhibitions I

<15> suppose on your passing on information to the<16> Police about potential racists, because when we are<17> thinking about our case and these five suspects, we<18> have all seen the film of them, and it must have been<19> known to other people what sort of people they were. I<20> do not suppose you can pass that sort of information<21> on, can you?<22> RANDEL BARROWS: Yes, we can and do and I think the<23> Crime and Disorder Act has very specific reference to<24> information sharing.<25> THE CHAIRMAN: Yes, you are right. Thank you.

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< 1> MR COOK: Could I just ask, on your submission paper on< 2> page 7 you talk about the absence of a clear and< 3> dynamic lead of this sort. You are talking:< 4> "The government needs to take a more active and< 5> positive lead in creating anti-racist alliance."< 6> Exactly what are you looking to the government to< 7> do? It is a very general phrase. What are you looking< 8> for?< 9> RANDEL BARROWS: I think the reference I made earlier<10> to the area criminal justice liaison committees, which<11> are set up under a statutory authority by government.<12> Central government obviously creates a climate through<13> legislation and policy. My own view is that is more<14> likely to be put into operational reality at a regional<15> level or an area level and that is why we believe the<16> area in criminal justice liaison committees are<17> probably the vehicle for that, but they clearly need a<18> lead from central government and indeed hopefully from<19> the recommendations of this Inquiry.<20> MR COOK: You see the community made reference to the<21> Crime and Disorder Act. Do you see that as a vehicle<22> for tackling racism?<23> RANDEL BARROWS: Very clearly, yes, I think that is the<24> case. It is very early days. We have only had the<25> inaugural meeting of the strategic partnership in

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< 1> Bradford, as far as the Crime and Disorder Strategy< 2> Group concerned. Therefore, it is very early days to< 3> say this will be a major item on the agenda, but I, for< 4> one, would be very surprised if it was not the case.< 5> We do now have the statutory framework provided by the< 6> Crime and Disorder Act.< 7> MR COOK: Perhaps I should have asked this of the last< 8> speakers, but I will ask you instead what the proposals< 9> are for consultation with voluntary organisations? We<10> have heard of some difficulties in other venues we have<11> visited where some of the voluntary organisations,<12> those who are perhaps regarded as being a bit difficult<13> and confrontational, have been excluded from

<14> consultation and there does not seem to be any set<15> criteria about that. Do you know what the components<16> are of the consultation?<17> RANDEL BARROWS: The initial piece of work that has<18> been undertaken on behalf of the partnership is an<19> audit across the district. To the best of my knowledge<20> and belief -- I have to look to Sharmila Gandhi -- that<21> audit has included consultation with voluntary groups<22> as well. Whether they would be described as difficult<23> voluntary groups I couldn't comment, but, clearly, if<24> this partnership in the district is to be successful it<25> needs to embrace all sections of the community and if

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< 1> sections of the community who would not normally come,< 2> for example, to dare I say, an exciting police forum or< 3> a Local Authority neighbourhood forum we need to reach< 4> out to those groups. We can't expect them to< 5> necessarily turn up to events that are laid on by the< 6> Local Authority or by the partnership.< 7> DR STONE: I was impressed by what Nasim Akhter said< 8> because I think it reflects a lot of what we are having< 9> to address, which is changing people's behaviour and<10> attitudes, and I think that is something which is part<11> of the whole of what we are after. That really brought<12> me to two parts in the UMMID document, which I thought<13> was a very impressive document, I must say, very<14> interesting. One of the present aims seems to be<15> steering young people away from persistent offending,<16> but it seems from what you are doing there I think most<17> probation work is to do with actually re-offending<18> rather than offending.<19> I just wondered if you would be kind enough to<20> expand a little bit on the crime prevention initiative<21> that you talked about at 1F, which is promoting<22> inter-agency cooperation to target young people who are<23> at risk of getting into trouble with the law. I would<24> be interested to know how you can do that. In other<25> words, when you haven't yet got someone within the

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< 1> system, how can you prevent them getting into the< 2> system, because that very, very much relates to the< 3> Stephen Lawrence case, obviously, if we could have< 4> prevented that.< 5> MOHAMMED ASLEM: When we are looking at early< 6> intervention and of the support we are talking about,< 7> at the moment we are working with five schools in< 8> Bradford with 14 to 16 year olds. What Nasim is doing< 9> is they identify the young people who have got<10> disruptive behaviour in school, so the schools are<11> coming to us and saying: "These people could benefit<12> from some intervention." So the school is coming. We

<13> have recently spoken with the Pupil Referral Unit and<14> we are getting support from them. People who are<15> excluded from school are in between from actually<16> receiving their tuition, they are in between, and we<17> pick them up, you know, before they move to the next<18> stage. It takes a couple of weeks before they are<19> excluded from school before anything is done with them,<20> and we pick them up at that stage, and that is from the<21> support of the pupil Referral Unit of the<22> Education Department.<23> DR STONE: Mohammed, I think you have answered my<24> question. That is where you would plug that sort of<25> activity in. I think that is what I wanted to know.

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< 1> One further question I just want to ask before we< 2> finish and that is I noticed at the very beginning, on< 3> the background of the project, it is a 3 year funded< 4> project. From my calculations that 3 years finishes< 5> now or very soon. Is there any prospect of that< 6> funding being withdrawn or is it likely to be continued< 7> and how are you looking to the future for what seems to< 8> me to be a very important project?< 9> MOHAMMED ASLEM: We have survived in Halifax very<10> well. It took us 3 to 5 years of funding from the<11> partners before we started getting money from other<12> trusts, and I am hoping it will be the same. I have<13> not given up hope. I am very hopeful that this<14> organisation will last for a very long time.<15> DR STONE: Statutory funding, such as probation, the<16> police and Local Authority.<17> MOHAMMED ASLEM: Partly, and partly the other work,<18> which is nothing to do with statutory work, which is<19> early intervention. Then we can look for trustees and<20> because we are a charity we can look for money coming<21> from other areas.<22> RANDEL BARROWS: Can I add that Aslem is always<23> optimistic about funding and needs to be like many<24> organisations. I don't think you should be left with<25> the impression that funding is not a problem because

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< 1> funding is a problem. Funding is a problem for the< 2> Probation Service as a whole and certainly it is a< 3> problem for the partners that we seek to enter into< 4> partnership with.< 5> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your< 6> contribution. Thank you all four of you.< 7> Could we now have the representatives of the< 8> Bradford Alliance Against Racial Harassment. Yes,< 9> thank you very much. We now have the representatives<10> of I think it is called BAARH Association and I think<11> it is Mr Saleem Sharif who is going to do the

<12> presentation.<13> SALEEM SHARIF: It is sir. Good afternoon, my name is<14> Saleem Sharif. I am the project worker for the<15> Bradford Alliance Against Racial Harassment or better<16> known as BAARH. I am sure you have heard the name<17> mentioned a few times today.<18> Before I go any further, I would like to start by<19> offering my condolences to the Lawrence family on the<20> tragic loss of their son and just to say that our<21> thoughts and prayers are with you.<22> Racial harassment is a major concern throughout<23> Britain, but more particularly in areas like Bradford<24> where there is a high percentage of black and Asian<25> minority communities. I would like to add that racism

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< 1> and racial harassment is a major hindrance to minority< 2> ethnic communities in playing their full role in the< 3> life of this society. It is criminal that black and< 4> Asians have to live in a constant state of fear and< 5> intimidation in this day and age and as the millennium< 6> is almost upon us. Therefore there should not be any< 7> complacency on how we deal with racial harassment and< 8> it is in this context that we welcome this opportunity< 9> to make a brief presentation on the work of BAARH.<10> BAARH is a multi-agency established to seek more<11> effective ways for dealing with incidents of racial<12> harassment and violence. This initiative was<13> instigated by the Bradford Racial Equality Council and<14> now comprises the West Yorkshire Police,<15> Bradford Council, Victim Support, the Probation<16> Service, the Citizens Advice Bureau and other voluntary<17> local and district wide agencies.<18> The aims of BAARH are to develop and implement a<19> multi-agency strategy on racial harassment which seeks<20> to coordinate and provide an effective support<21> mechanism to victims of racial harassment. It also<22> seeks to undertake a public awareness and educational<23> programme in order to mobilise public opinion against<24> racial intimidation with a view to create a safe and<25> secure environment for individuals and their families.

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< 1> Also, BAARH seeks to instigate and coordinate< 2> preventative action against the perpetrators of racial< 3> harassment. How are the aims of BAARH to be achieved?< 4> These are being achieved by:< 5> (1) Identifying the services and facilities< 6> offered by agencies for victims;< 7> (2) Developing a better, understanding trust and< 8> cooperation amongst the members of the alliance;< 9> (3) Seeking views of victims to ensure that the<10> service provision is developed in accordance with the

<11> victim's wishes and views;<12> (4) To investigate and constantly monitor the<13> extent and nature of racial harassment within Bradford.<14> You may ask what are the key features of BAARH and<15> why we have BAARH. The key features of BAARH are not<16> only the collective work at a policy level, as you have<17> heard from members today, but the active involvement of<18> statutory and voluntary agencies at a grass roots level<19> with the involvement of local communities to encourage<20> the ownership of the issue at a local level and to<21> enable immediate and sensitive responses and, in<22> particular, the support at a neighbourhood level. For<23> example, to ensure there is immediate local support and<24> help available to victims of racial harassment and<25> violence. At the same time there is also an effort at

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< 1> a local level to identify and to deal with perpetrators< 2> of racial harassment and violence.< 3> The wider role of BAARH is to ensure the< 4> endorsement of the efforts at the local level and the< 5> achievements by this local neighbourhood community is< 6> endorsed by all member agencies.< 7> BAARH has a number of mechanisms in place. It has< 8> worked with a number of agencies and as a part of that< 9> has developed reporting centres. The reporting centres<10> are the first port of call for victims to report the<11> incident. This is where the victims are looking for<12> their support. The victims can go into a local<13> reporting centre and get help. The help is then what<14> we will say is based at the local heart of the<15> community and the reporting centres act as a direct<16> link for local communities and the Alliance.<17> These reports are collated at the reporting centre<18> and they are then referred through the mechanisms in<19> place to BAARH. BAARH then has what we call<20> "casework groups". The casework groups provide<21> advice, information and support to victims of racial<22> harassment. They also provide a sympathetic and<23> effective response and remedies to such individuals who<24> seek the assistance of BAARH as a consequence of their<25> experiences of being the subjects of racial harassment

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< 1> and violence.< 2> The casework group internally liaises and< 3> coordinates the activities to individual cases of< 4> racial harassment; undertake preventative work; they< 5> report to the policy group on policy issues arising< 6> from the casework that they have worked with; the< 7> casework group reports to the policy group any< 8> hindrances and barriers that require action at the< 9> highest level.

<10> What is the role of the policy group? The policy<11> group consists of representatives participating<12> agencies or member agencies at a senior level with the<13> responsibility and authority to:<14> (1) Coordinate the activities of participating<15> agencies;<16> (2) Develop and determine practices for BAARH;<17> (3) Advice and make recommendations to<18> participating and other agencies throughout the<19> district of BAARH.<20> Let us just going over the mechanisms. BAARH has<21> been in existence near on 2 years now and there are a<22> number of experiences that we have had. What are these<23> experiences? Well, during the first year of BAARH,<24> which was very much exploratory and developmental, it<25> is only since the start of this year that the

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< 1> mechanisms have been in place to offer a service to the< 2> victims of racial harassment and violence. This has< 3> been identifying local partners to act as reporting< 4> centres; the training of staff from volunteers; and the< 5> establishment for coordinated referral and recording of< 6> incidents of racial harassment and violence; publicity< 7> material, which is something you may see around the< 8> centre today, and information packs have backed this up< 9> to the communities; and a case management system which<10> reviews the progress of complaints on a regular basis.<11> The impact of all of this is also visible and this<12> is through the greater involvement of the community;<13> the quick and coordinated response to victims;<14> effective use of the referral systems; the ability of<15> keeping the victims informed and involved.<16> Today we have generated a level of confidence in<17> the community about the system and already we have seen<18> a relatively comparative increased number of people<19> reporting incidents.<20> Of course, these are early days, but we are<21> confident that this will be a successful project.<22> Recently, as some of you may have read in the papers,<23> we have received through the National Lottery Charities<24> Board to extend remit of BAARH to other parts of the<25> district, which we believe is a vote of confidence in

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< 1> the work of BAARH.< 2> I would like to thank you for that and hand over< 3> to Ateeq Siddique who is going to talk a little about< 4> the reporting centres we have in place.< 5> ATEEQ SIDDIQUE: I know Nigel Delaney is not here. He< 6> is someone who runs a reporting centre in Bradford 5.< 7> I work with Saleem at the Racial Equality Council as a< 8> youth and racial harassment officer.

< 9> Saleem has talked about BAARH. BAARH consists of<10> two reporting areas. One is in Bradford 3 and one is<11> in Bradford 5. That leaves the rest of Bradford for me<12> to deal with. Any racial incidents in Bradford come to<13> me at the REC. I have been at the REC for 2 years<14> now. Last year I had 36 incidents. This year in<15> 6 months, because we have set the systems down, I have<16> already got 40 incidents. I want to do is look a<17> little bit more or go into a little bit more detail<18> about what sort of work I actually do, but before I do<19> that, I mean, I sort of like have helped to get most of<20> the crowd here, or I would like to believe that I have,<21> because it is within the remit of my work. I have been<22> asked several questions, particularly by media, what is<23> in institutionalised racism? Where about racism?<24> Where do you stand?<25> I want to start with is where I stand on the

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< 1> question of racism and where I stand is I am one those< 2> people -- a small point -- I believe that it started< 3> off with the Atlantic Slave Trade. Most people think< 4> that racism is actually a novelty and the legacy of< 5> that (inaudible) et cetera. That is where I am coming< 6> from for the media in the room today.< 7> Going on to my work, I want to concentrate on the< 8> victims of racial harassment, because when people come< 9> in -- I have heard people before me talking about this<10> and painting quite a rosy picture -- when I get these<11> people since April walk into my office, you know,<12> people completely depressed and demoralised, there is<13> one thing they want. They want the incidents to stop,<14> they want quick action and they want racial incidents<15> to stop and in many instances I am afraid to say it<16> does not happen and that has been my experience.<17> In the majority of the cases people are very<18> disappointed with the police either directly because<19> someone might be roughed up by the mob, they have got<20> roughed up on the streets, in their cars, in their<21> houses or cells or been bad-mouthed. But in some of<22> the other instances I think people look at the police<23> and say: "Well, they didn't respond immediately."<24> I've got a case -- there are several cases -- I<25> may mention in a while. The police are featured quite

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< 1> highly in most of the cases, so they are a problem.< 2> But also I think we have to push it across to some of< 3> the other agencies, like the Local Authority, because< 4> they provide youth workers who are on estates. In many< 5> instances I don't think we need a sledgehammer to< 6> smarten up. You know, you might have a neighbour< 7> dispute on an estate, take (inaudible) for example, and

< 8> I think in many instances you just need one 22 or< 9> 23 year old youth work to go and diffuse the situation<10> because we all know that crime is committed by young<11> people. The majority of people who commit crimes,<12> reported crimes, are young people. The majority of<13> perpetrators are young people, and that is particularly<14> the case with racial crimes.<15> I think the picture we are creating today by the<16> other agencies, and I am sorry to them, I don't want to<17> offend anyone, but it is far, far too rosy.<18> Just sticking on the theme about young youth<19> workers -- and they are being cut back over the years<20> in Bradford -- two out of those five lads who murdered<21> Stephen Lawrence were kicked out of their youth club<22> when they were 12 years old. That is how seriously I<23> take the role of youth provision because I tell you<24> what in inner city areas or on estates in Bradford the<25> first thing I look for, and it is not the police, I

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< 1> look to see where the youth workers are. If I can find< 2> one, in Bradford Temple for example, they are the ones< 3> we send in because otherwise you have brought in --< 4> slander with a sledgehammer. So it is a question of< 5> resources, I think, in that instance.< 6> In many of the cases, they are very small cases,< 7> but, you know, you have got a victim who has an< 8> incident which has been going on for 1 or 2 years --< 9> one incident has been going on for 8 years, I am afraid<10> to say. Some of the victims are actually at the back<11> today.<12> The worst case that I have had in the 2 years I<13> have been at the Racial Equality Council is on an<14> estate there are loads of young people who go around<15> picking on the Asian shops, smashing the windows,<16> throwing 2 litres of urine into the shop, so it takes<17> them 4 hours to clean up. Someone in the family is<18> always stressed out, so there are medical pressures.<19> I know people have talked about the Crime and<20> Disorder Act -- for everybody else's attention that<21> came into force on 30th September. Now, the<22> gatekeepers are back and there is hardly any confidence<23> in the police. I am sure you realise all realise, and<24> we talked about this before, that the Force has<25> admitted there is institutional racism, but I think

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< 1> there needs to be a coordinated approach. We need to< 2> look at realty and say -- because the agencies have not< 3> come up to scratch to be honest. If they don't work in< 4> a coordinated fashion in Bradford, in my opinion -- and< 5> I am sure the director of the RAC who will speak later< 6> will mention this -- if he is honest about it as well I

< 7> think he will reach that conclusion.< 8> I will deal with some other issues. I know it< 9> sounds a bit controversial, but you have to be<10> sometimes. I think some of the issues are, just to<11> finish off, we need more reporting centres. I think<12> the people living in Bradford need to keep an eye out<13> on their own estates and on their own particular areas<14> and report things, because someone mentioned something<15> about reporting and recording. They are two separate<16> categories. Somebody might report something, but is it<17> being recorded? You know what I mean? That is an<18> issue. I think racist police officers should be sacked<19> on the spot.<20> I do agree with what Mr Macpherson said. It has<21> to be a root and branch project. It has to be a<22> coordinated approach. I think there are resources and<23> implications in here and it was something positive, I<24> think. Is it? No, I just think we have to review the<25> whole area. I am hoping that the Alliance Against

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< 1> Racial Harassment will spread throughout Bradford, so< 2> everybody has got a responsibility. It can't be swept< 3> under the carpet.< 4> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much. That is very, very< 5> good. Whatever people's views are, it is nice to have< 6> sharp views like that. Thank you. Say there is a< 7> crime, a racial crime, are you quickly brought in to< 8> help with victim liaison, your group, or does that not< 9> happen? We know in the case that we have been<10> investigating, the family liaison officers were members<11> of the squad who were investigating the crime and there<12> was not much contact, if any, with people who might<13> have helped from the very earliest days in connection<14> with the family liaison. Are you used for family<15> liaison purposes, the Racial Equality Council or<16> yourselves?<17> ATEEQ SIDDIQUE: We rely on networks that we've got on<18> estates. We don't know where we would get called out.<19> You see if there is any youth worker, because I was a<20> youth worker for 6 years, I would contact people within<21> in the areas. I would look for families if there are<22> people with no families. I would contact officers -- I<23> actually contacted a police officer, who I know from my<24> previous job because, to be honest, there was a few<25> really nasty incidents. For example, there was the

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< 1> woman with the 5 litre bottle of urine. It took< 2> 10 days for the officers to go to see the victims. The< 3> incidents had been taking place over 8 years and when< 4> there was a particularly nasty attack I contacted the< 5> officer that I actually trusted and he went in and

< 6> sorted the situation out.< 7> We are relying on the networks that we have got on< 8> the estates, but there is not enough of them, and I< 9> think the most crucial ones, in my view, are people who<10> can quickly deal with a conflict situation and to be<11> honest the police aren't that -- they are in some<12> instances -- but in many of the instances where there<13> are 15, 16 year old white lads, I think it takes a<14> community worker or youth worker to go in and break it<15> down. We look for those links, but there are not many<16> of them across Bradford.<17> BISHOP SENTAMU: Mr Sharif, you say because of your work<18> there has been an increased reporting of racial<19> incidents, particularly racial harassment. By how<20> much?<21> SALEEM SHARIF: In the preceding 9 months we have had a<22> 46 per cent increase in the number of incidents<23> reported.<24> BISHOP SENTIMU: That would be about how many roughly<25> in numbers?

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< 1> SALEEM SHARIF: We are talking roughly about 234< 2> incidents (inaudible).< 3> BISHOP SENTIMU: As a result of that reporting, how< 4> many of those were seriously handled by the police?< 5> SALEEM SHARIF: Of those handled by the police, there< 6> were 21 that have been handled by the police.< 7> BISHOP SENTIMU: And the success rate, because we see< 8> Her Majesties -- answer me, the success rate has been?< 9> SALEEM SHARIF: We have had a success rate of<10> approximately 36 per cent of our cases being resolved<11> to the victim's wishes.<12> BISHOP SENTIMU: Because, you see, how I used to do<13> inspection again on reporting and under-reporting, part<14> of the trouble was they felt there was not going to be<15> a quick response, so people did not report. Do you<16> think that is improving?<17> SHARIF SALEEM: Yes, part of BAARH is to respond to the<18> victim immediately as soon as the subject has been<19> reported. We have constant liaison with the victims<20> and we are kept informed of all matters arising from<21> the case and how we are dealing with it (inaudible).<22> BISHOP SENTIMU: Are you part of the consultative<23> group, not in terms of policy, because we have heard<24> from someone else who does tend to be talking shops?<25> They have these meetings where they talk and talk and

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< 1> talk but nothing happens. I am talking about strategic< 2> dealings with racial harassment and incidents. Are you< 3> confident that you are part of that second bit of it< 4> or ----

< 5> SALEEM SHARIF: Yes, I believe the casework group is< 6> actually dealing with incidents and they are there to< 7> resolve them and actually tackle the issues of racial< 8> harassment.< 9> BISHOP SENTAMU: I did not get your name, your<10> colleague.<11> ATEEQ SIDDIQUE: Ateeq Siddique.<12> BISHOP SENTAMU: What do you suppose to increase the<13> number of -- supposing there was a lot of money around,<14> how confident are you about increasing the level of<15> youth workers and I think, you know, there has been a<16> decrease of youth provision since the early'80s. In<17> every inner city there has been the same difficulty.<18> But for minority ethnic communities, are you confident<19> (a) that you can produce the sufficient numbers<20> required as well as sufficient numbers for joining the<21> Police Service in order to change the culture? Two<22> broad questions<23> ATEEQ SIDDIQUE: There are two questions there. I think<24> it is an economic consideration that the Local<25> Authority and the Government have got to make because

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< 1> they have been cutting down. Too many managers and not< 2> enough workers on the ground. That is the true reality< 3> of it. Somebody mentioned earlier about the fact there< 4> is 134, I believe, black/Asian officers in< 5> West Yorkshire. Now, all the evidence shows that a< 6> large majority of those leave as well. So that is a< 7> particular -- I have been moved recently -- I hope it< 8> has. There is a confidence question underneath. That< 9> confidence can only be brought as a coordinated<10> approach. To be honest with you, I could easily sit<11> here and say we need loads of black and Asian officers,<12> but the confidence gap is so wide, because with the 40<13> cases I have got -- we were analysing it yesterday --<14> sometimes I don't even have time to analyse it from our<15> angle -- the younger ones, the younger black Asians,<16> even the white working-class kids don't want to pursue<17> it. A lot of the cases drop off. It is not as if we<18> have laid off or the Race Relations Act is too narrow.<19> You know, people haven't got confidence and it is that<20> confidence gap. All of these agencies we have<21> mentioned have got to get some sort of coordinated<22> approach, but it has got to start from the ground, the<23> grass roots.<24> BISHOP SENTIMU: What will be your part in all of<25> that?

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< 1> ATEEK SIDDIQUE: A central one, I hope.< 2> BISHOP SENTAMU: This is not a flippant question. At< 3> the end of the day, the search light is on the police

< 4> and I don't think that light will ever die out. I< 5> think it is on their commitment to root out racism not< 6> only from within their own organisation, but to make< 7> sure that they are actually dealing with people< 8> according to their needs and that search light is going< 9> to be there, but the question is going to be: what does<10> the community need to do also to bridge that gap? This<11> confidence bit?<12> ATEEK SIDDIQUE: It would be easier to sit here and<13> say -- I mean, it is not just the 2 years I have been<14> here, it is my 6 years previously working at<15> Bradford 5 because, you know, the conflict between the<16> police and the other people has gone on for 2 or 3<17> years, as you know. It would be easier for me to turn<18> around and say young lads have got to make, you know,<19> young black and Asian lads ----<20> BISHOP SENTIMU: Do not talk about the others. I am<21> talking about your organisation. Forget the others.<22> ATEEK SIDDIQUE: Our organisation is if there is any<23> sort of coordinated approach we will support it if it<24> is going to bridge that confidence gap.<25> BISHOP SENTAMU: Thank you very much.

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< 1> DR STONE: Yes. You say that, Mr Sharif, the BAARH< 2> consists of obviously Bradford REC, the police,< 3> Council, Victim Support, Probation Service, Citizen< 4> Advice Bureau and other voluntary, local and district< 5> wide agencies, but I have to say with an Alliance like< 6> this I think really its credibility depends very much< 7> upon the ones you put in as an "et cetera" at the end.< 8> Which voluntary, local and distract wide agencies are< 9> members of the Alliance?<10> SALEEM SHARIF: There is the local community centres<11> who act as reporting centres and are part of the<12> Alliance. It is the local reporting centres, the local<13> community centres that are part of the Alliance who are<14> acting as recording centres.<15> DR STONE: Do you cover the Manningham (?) area?<16> SALEEM SHARIF: (Inaudible) for Bradford 5, in the<17> area, and Bradford 3. It is intended that we move<18> district wide (inaudible).<19> DR STONE: I still do not quite understand which<20> organisations they are locally. Are they residents'<21> associations? You just say "reporting centres"?<22> SALEEM SHARIF: They are local community centres, local<23> housing officers, FSU, community centres, health<24> centres.<25> DR STONE: I see. I am really thinking of the

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< 1> organisations which are community led rather than being< 2> statutory led. A health centre is obviously statutory

< 3> led from the Health Authority. You say there are at< 4> least two community led organisations there, anyway,< 5> apart from the Alliance?< 6> SALEEM SHARIF: Yes.< 7> DR STONE: Who chairs the Alliance?< 8> SALEEM SHARIF: It is chaired by the leader of the< 9> Council.<10> DR STONE: Do you think that is a good thing?<11> SALEEM SHARIF: At present it is serving the purpose.<12> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your<13> contribution. It has been very useful to us and if<14> there is anything else you wish to add in writing, of<15> course, we will be glad to accept it.<16> We will adjourn now until 2 o'clock. Just hang on<17> a second before you all run away, would you? We will<18> start punctually at 2 and what we will do is probably<19> have two contributions at the table at the same time to<20> follow each other and then we will ask questions and<21> then the last two after that. Thank you very much,<22> 2 o'clock.<23> (The luncheon adjournment)<24> THE CHAIRMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, our next<25> presentation is from the African Caribbean Economic

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< 1> Establishment and the first one to make the< 2> presentation is Mr Karl Oxford.< 3> KARL OXFORD: My name is Karl Oxford. I am Project< 4> Manager for the African Caribbean Economic< 5> Establishment, otherwise known as ACEE. I don't think< 6> Mr Lawrence is in the room at the moment, however, I< 7> would like to send our strong commendation really for< 8> his family's strength and determination to bring the< 9> case to this point, and also, as I mentioned to the<10> Inquiry team last night, our commendation for them for<11> the intensity at which the Inquiry is being conducted<12> and really and truly that is the fundamental approach<13> that we need to have because anything else will fall<14> seriously short.<15> I was very insecure when asked to give a view, if<16> you like, on the case, simply because I had<17> insecurities about my knowledge on the case this far<18> and I do find it a great disappointment that<19> presentations could not have been made this morning<20> from an African Caribbean person of a high level in<21> those institutions that gave presentations this<22> morning, and I think in there lies a problem and it is<23> a significant problem.<24> What I have been assured of is that the Lawrence<25> family and the Inquiry are engaged in this process,

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< 1> seeking preventative solutions to ensure this kind of

< 2> thing doesn't happen in the future and/or, where it< 3> does, we have effective mechanisms to deal with it in a< 4> much more acceptable way.< 5> Basically I have heard so many comfort statistics< 6> and comfort projects said this morning and any one of< 7> us can come here and seem to justify our existence as< 8> organisations and the kind of endeavors and strategic< 9> objects that we have. However, the challenge is for<10> any one of those organisations who gave presentations<11> this morning and who have still to give this afternoon<12> and many more organisations out there, for them to<13> demonstrate a systematic decrease in the issues that we<14> continually talk about. We are not really bothered<15> about doing this and doing that. In the private<16> sector, if you are not able to sell a product, well,<17> you go out of business and I simply say if<18> organisations are unable to effectively decrease these<19> devastating issues, then arguably, they need to<20> seriously look at their job descriptions and whether<21> they are fulfilling those roles.<22> I am going to make reference to the police, but as<23> you will see later on, this issue and what Mr Sarathy<24> said earlier this morning I believe he was the only<25> person who touched on the issue as it should be

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< 1> focused. We can have all these consultations and< 2> debates and all these pros and cons evaluation, but< 3> ultimately the decision is made at high policies levels< 4> and as with the Scarman issue, the political will is< 5> not there and the challenge is for the Inquiry team,< 6> and we have heard the comforting words that current< 7> administration have said to you: How do they guarantee< 8> there will be a multi-minister approach to these issues< 9> because it is a multi-economic and social issue and<10> without that we are just wasting our time, and<11> personally, I do not have the time to waste and I am<12> sure a lot of people don't have time to waste either.<13> Accepting my insecurities, I feel confident that I<14> can now talk as a layperson and I believe that as lay<15> people do exist in the audience, people don't fancy<16> talking. People want a simple explanation as to why a<17> problem exists and how that problem can be improved.<18> If we come from that standpoint I think we will do a<19> lot better.<20> However, I will respond to one of the things the<21> police said which is in the local paper today, which is<22> that they claim that there could well be unintentional<23> racism that exists. I would like to quote from a<24> Judicial Studies Board own document of their<25> interpretation of racism and prejudice:

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< 1> "Prejudice is an unfavourable opinion or feeling< 2> formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought or< 3> reason.< 4> "It is an unsubstantiated prejudgment of an< 5> individual or group, favourable or unfavourable in< 6> character, tending to action in the same direction. It< 7> is unreasonable feelings, opinions or attitudes< 8> especially of a hostile nature directed against a< 9> racial, religious or national group. It also gives<10> interpretations about stereotyping and discrimination."<11> If that is not black and white, I don't know what<12> is. It should be recognised as such. Where it does<13> exist then people should be dismissed without further<14> ado. If anyone needs a copy of this, it is here, but I<15> am sure the police will have their own explanations.<16> The Judicial Studies Board also went on to say the<17> presentation of black people or people of African<18> Caribbean origin goes back a long way and especially<19> the 17th century. Indeed, any original idea of<20> Britishness was something forced out of the mixed<21> identities and cultural traditions of many different<22> people a millennium or more ago: Britons, Romans,<23> Danes, Saxons, Dukes, Normans and many more, so<24> contrary to what it often supports Britain has always<25> been something of a multi-cultural society even if in

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< 1> extent and visibility this has flowed over the years< 2> and we are on 21st October 1998 and we are still< 3> talking about serious racial discrimination and< 4> prejudice and that is unbelievable.< 5> The judicial studies board went on to say --< 6> please bear in mind this is not what we do on a< 7> day-to-day basis, but this morning I said what can I< 8> find to help with this review and surprise, our files< 9> contains this information, because if we are serious<10> about what we do as an organisation then we must have<11> access to market intelligence. That is the same issue<12> I am putting forward to all these other institutions.<13> Unfortunately, we come back year after year saying we<14> have the same problem and ultimately people really and<15> truly need to say whether they are capable of doing<16> their job or not.<17> The Judicial Studies Board goes on to say that<18> previous research has showed how unaware judges may be<19> of their own practices, let alone those of their<20> colleagues.<21> "It may be" -- this is their words -- "it may be<22> that some not sufficiently sensitive to the way in<23> which racial views and beliefs may influence their<24> judgment."<25> They employed a consultant called Dr Hood and his

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< 1> findings were: "Firstly, the research confirmed that to< 2> a very substantial degree the over representation of< 3> African Caribbean males and females in the prison< 4> system is a result of their over representation among< 5> those convicted of crime and sentenced in the Crown< 6> Courts. Dr Hood estimated that 80% of black male< 7> representation arose from conviction rates and the< 8> characteristics of the offences involved."< 9> Here begs the question about how though cases have<10> come to court.<11> Two-thirds of this, ie 20%, could be explained by<12> the fact that more black than white defendants pleaded<13> not guilty and the consequent greater length of the<14> custodial sentence imposed. However, the other<15> one-third of the residue remained unexplained by such<16> procedural outcomes and could only be accounted for by<17> higher proportion of black defendants being sentenced<18> to custody than would have been expected once all the<19> characteristics of the case had been taken into<20> account. Judicial Studies Board information.<21> No-one has taken on board that all these<22> derogatory and serious over disproportionate figures<23> that have been mentioned this morning, if we were to<24> research those figures we would find that by far the<25> group that suffers most by this discrimination and

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< 1> prejudice are African males. There are so many cases< 2> we can quote where African males particularly,< 3> notwithstanding the issues that face African females,< 4> of people of the South Asian extraction or other ethnic< 5> groups as a whole, but clearly there is a serious< 6> misdemeanor being brought towards African males to< 7> prevent their positive engagement and development in< 8> British society and that needs to be a particular< 9> focus, we believe, within the findings of your<10> recommendations.<11> Without seeking to pick out organisations<12> particularly, I would like to say, and there is so many<13> organisations which have flaws, and we are our own<14> flaws and the challenge is to make our organisation<15> more proficient and effective, but where you find<16> people employed in very influential positions on very<17> good money, you expect a consistency between need and<18> policy and provision, and where that doesn't exist in<19> lay people's terms then serious questions need to be<20> asked. The frustrating thing is as we do our work we<21> have to argue the same points time and time and time<22> and time again, and the feeling is: "Oh, it is Karl<23> again", or, "it is ACEE again", or, "it is the Inquiry<24> team again", and sometimes it would be nice, if I was<25> particularly a white female with a disability, because

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< 1> I would say exactly the same things. The change needs< 2> to happen, the change is inevitable and, God willing,< 3> we won't have too much more pain before real change is< 4> in place.< 5> I will give you a very brief snapshot. I wrote< 6> things down today and really I came with the kind of< 7> view that there is no point in me coming up here and< 8> trying to do a very fancy presentation or anything< 9> because it is not a fancy issue, it is a very serious<10> issue. In the end I thought I would write down a few<11> demographics.<12> We have a New Deal initiative in the country and<13> the consultation leading up to New Deal, the employment<14> service regionally and nationally were told New Deal<15> would not work. New Deal would not work because the<16> strategy is wrong and the investment is not enough, and<17> they wouldn't listen, and surprise, surprise, New Deal<18> started this year and I will give you the Bradford<19> stats and it would probably be the same, if not worse,<20> for other parts of the country, where within the stock<21> or the client group, if you like, going into New Deal,<22> remember New Deal is a mainstream project for young<23> people, aged between 18 and 24 who have been 6 months<24> or longer unemployed, and the starting point for New<25> Deal comprised of an ethnic minority group of over

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< 1> 50%. Now, 50% of black people do not live in Bradford< 2> and here the question must be begged of the Employment< 3> Service, the Chamber of Commerce, who are not< 4> represented here, and the organisations with the< 5> responsibility for Bradford and districts economic< 6> strategy of the causes of those problems and the< 7> solutions to those problems. That is New Deal. If we< 8> went across all aspects of our demography in Bradford< 9> we would find disproportionate figures for health,<10> education, training, employment, business and a whole<11> host of other industry sectors. The simple question<12> needs to be asked: What strategy have we got for a year<13> on year decrease of that scenario and we don't need to<14> play with those words. It is a simple question and it<15> requires a simply answer.<16> We do need a multi-agency approach. We need a<17> multi-agency approach on a reasonable level, on a local<18> level and on a national level. We need a<19> multi-stakeholder approach, which is a totally<20> different thing all together, which is for the<21> infrastructure that serves our communities, voluntary<22> or otherwise, to also be able to stand to a vision that<23> they have belief in. We need such a vehicle to<24> cultivates such a framework for us to actually justify<25> why we leave our beds every morning and go to the

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< 1> offices that we do.< 2> Preempting a question I might get asked: What are< 3> you doing about that. We put the question to national< 4> organisations who represent certain core interests we< 5> have, and said: "You don't seem to have a national< 6> strategy for us. The response comes back: "Is that< 7> really our responsibility", and I say: "You put< 8> yourself in that position", and basically we said will< 9> help with such a strategy. Now, the response back to<10> us didn't encourage us, so we formed an allegiance with<11> various groups nationally and collectively we went to<12> the House of Commons with a proposal, and as a result<13> we have now set up a company based in the House of<14> Commons with membership of Lords and Baronesses and key<15> black organisations called the African Caribbean<16> Westminster Initiative. I hope to God that plays a<17> significant role in complementing existing strategies.<18> We as organisations and groups and community<19> activists, if you like, community entrepreneurs is a<20> word we are prepared to use, have a role to play, but<21> we can only do so much. What is needed is a commitment<22> tool, our own ideas.<23> I will agree with what a couple of the speakers<24> said this morning, because unless you are an ostrich<25> with your head in the ground, we know racism covers all

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< 1> aspects of British society and it is not an obvious< 2> fact, but it is on the increase.< 3> Our suggestion is, in respect of the 1976 Race< 4> Relations Act, we need a 1998 legislative measure to< 5> deal with it.< 6> A thing we will put to the Inquiry team is this,< 7> and again from a layperson's terms: Hundreds of< 8> thousands of pounds have been spent on research. The< 9> simple solution to this issue is that the government<10> adopts those recommendations in full: Simple.<11> I would like to end -- and to me it is positive<12> because it kind of veers towards a solution -- by<13> saying that institutions find difficulties in the<14> positive engagement of minority ethnic groups and we<15> have heard some today and we have heard some last year<16> and we will be hearing some more.<17> I would like to leave then with a simple example:<18> In the private sector where I come from, if somebody<19> couldn't do their job, they would go out of business.<20> So people best get sharpened up to doing their jobs and<21> applying effective mechanisms, otherwise please leave<22> that chair and let somebody more capable take it. I<23> would like to finish on that note.<24> I would like to pass on to one of my directors,<25> Doreen, who would also like to give her views and

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< 1> opinions on the issues that surround this case.< 2> DOREEN THOMAS: Basically, I didn't come to speak today,< 3> but having heard all that is being said by the various< 4> groups that came here I felt I needed to speak.< 5> As an African Caribbean mother of two teenagers,< 6> one 17 year old black male, I felt I needed to speak< 7> because basically I could be in the same position< 8> Mrs Lawrence is in today and many other African< 9> Caribbean mothers and Asian mothers could be in that<10> position.<11> I want to say what my definition of racial<12> harassment is. In my view, racial harassment is being<13> disproportionately stopped and searched by the police.<14> It is being disproportionately represented in the<15> Criminal Justice System. We don't get probation. We<16> usually get a custodial sentence.<17> We are disproportionately excluded from schools,<18> particularly black males, at a crucial time in their<19> education. Again, to me, that is racial harassment.<20> Racial harassment is also being put in the worst<21> housing conditions, and the list goes on and on. If we<22> are to deal with racial harassment properly we need to<23> look at all these things in its fullness. That is<24> basically what I wanted to say.<25> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you both very much. Mr Oxford,

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< 1> who does your organisation work with? You applaud< 2> multi-agency approach, are you involved with the Racial< 3> Equality Council or the police?< 4> KARL OXFORD: We are involved with both. We are also< 5> involved with the Local Authority, Bradford and< 6> District Tech, Business Link, Government Office, the< 7> Employment Service, and a whole host of organisations< 8> we feel can play a positive role to what we are doing.< 9> THE CHAIRMAN: You are entirely a voluntary body.<10> KARL OXFORD: Not for profit, yes.<11> BISHOP SENTAMU: When we received evidence in<12> Tower Hamlets, Mr David Muir, who is a lecturer in the<13> University of North London, and this was collaborated<14> by Joel Edwards who used to be a probation officer in<15> London for 10 years, said that his experience was that<16> particularly young black males were over policed and<17> under protected. Is this your experience here in<18> Bradford or does it read differently?<19> KARL OXFORD: As a former young black male, and I am<20> still quite young, but yes.<21> DOREEN THOMAS: As a mother of a black male and also<22> with brothers and friends, it is definitely the case<23> and I think the police statistics that they gave this<24> morning is a good example of that. We make up less<25> than 2% of those in the city centre, yet 38% are

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< 1> stopped and searched on their own figures, very much< 2> so.< 3> BISHOP SENTAMU: You want to work multi-agency in order< 4> to turn the tide around, or rather, this huge Titanic< 5> which seems to be set on a collision course, turn it< 6> round so it is incoming waters. Apart from< 7> multi-agency approach and your business enterprise,< 8> what in terms of policing, what particular< 9> recommendation other than by telling the Home<10> Secretary, what one thing if you had the power would<11> you like to see happen?<12> KARL OXFORD: I would like strategies which were in<13> place that prevented a lot of our young black males<14> from being in the profile of the police, if you like.<15> So when they get over policed or overly harassed it is<16> often that they don't have jobs, some of them. They<17> don't have jobs, they are very visible and they are an<18> easy target and the reason for that is because they are<19> three times as likely to be unemployed as white<20> people. If we brought parity to situations like that<21> then we would have an indirect effect and the event of<22> them being overly harassed, so it is to create<23> personal, career development opportunities for our<24> young people, so they are not in a position where they<25> can be unduly harassed by the police and other people.

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< 1> DOREEN THOMAS: I would like to add to that. I think< 2> the police really need to sit down and talk to our< 3> young black males and actually listen to what they have< 4> to say and take on board what they have to say. They< 5> have a lot of the solutions to what is seen as the< 6> problem and that needs to happen far more than it is< 7> doing now.< 8> BISHOP SENTAMU: The Commissioner for Racial Equality< 9> in his evidence to us, the whole question of<10> institutional, not institutionalised, racism was not<11> just a question of just the police, but all<12> institutions of this country. From your business side,<13> do you have any reflection?<14> KARL OXFORD: Yes, it is a guarantee. I started by<15> saying that racism existed in British society and it is<16> individuals in that society who run the big<17> organisations and the glass ceilings are still there<18> and they are stronger and unfortunately people who<19> could reverse that situation aren't in the positions,<20> otherwise there would have been presentations from<21> those same organisations today.<22> DR STONE: I come back to money again, particularly as<23> you are involved in an economic establishment, as you<24> described, and I value your views on a remark that was

<25> made earlier that private finance might be available

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< 1> for some of the multi-agency things you have advocated,< 2> and also the funding of youth workers, the funding of< 3> the charity we heard of earlier, quite a lot of the< 4> work that the probation officers actually do, not just< 5> with preventing reoffending, but working with people to< 6> prevent them becoming offenders. That can and< 7> sometimes is taken on by charities. It is realistic to< 8> think private finance actually would be available, do< 9> you think, for these sorts of initiatives?<10> KARL OXFORD: Yes, I believe it is. I think the<11> challenge is we have to apply now day thinking and now<12> day strategy. 1981, and I believe 1985, we had the<13> riots and a serious amount of money was thrown into<14> inner cities willy-nilly. That gave rise to various<15> infrastructures and individuals of so-called influence<16> and, low and behold, we are in 1998. We are finding<17> out those infrastructures have not worked. I think<18> private finance is one thing, but I think corporate<19> thinking and a corporate mentality is also another<20> thing. If we can identify practical and economic<21> arguments as to why the investment should be made,<22> then, going back to what Mr Sarathy said earlier this<23> morning, I think we have a better chance of the<24> ministers in London adopting these issues, because<25> political and economic considerations are driving

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< 1> society in this country and, unfortunately, we are not< 2> applying or having those considerations as part of our< 3> issue resolution strategies.< 4> I am confident that I can, we can and many more< 5> people can identify business arguments for that private< 6> finance to come, not only domestically in this country,< 7> but also internationally. We have some very large< 8> conglomerates that exist in parts of Africa and the US< 9> and the Asian subcontinent as a whole, and we have<10> delegations that go to these places and meet with these<11> people without much backing from the British Chamber of<12> Commerce. We have many business people in this country<13> contributing significant investment to the British<14> economy and we are getting very little back. That is<15> all said and down, however, we have the ideas to<16> attract that private finance and I believe unless we<17> come up with those business arguments then<18> unfortunately, not being over critical because people<19> do want it to work, we might be wasting too much of our<20> time.<21> I thank Mr Lawrence for coming back. I commend<22> you and your family on the strength that you have shown<23> in pursuing and driving this thing to this point. God

<24> bless you all and you have the full support from<25> Bradford.

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< 1> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you both very much for your< 2> contribution. We met you yesterday and it was very< 3> agreeable to do so. Thank you very much for your< 4> attendance today.< 5> The next presentation is from the Bradford< 6> University Students Union and I think it is< 7> Claudia Bradshaw. Miss Bradshaw, we have your written< 8> document which you may want to read, is that right?< 9> CLAUDIA BRADSHAW: I wasn't going to read directly from<10> it because you have had it in advance, but I am going<11> to pick up on some of the points.<12> My name is Claudia Bradshaw and I am the President<13> of the University of Bradford Students Union. Maybe I<14> should point out that Stephen Lawrence was a student<15> and that is one the reasons I have been asked to speak<16> today.<17> I would like on behalf of all the students at<18> Bradford to express my sympathy to the Lawrence<19> family. Secondly, I did give in my deposition last<20> night, so I don't intend to read that out here.<21> Instead I would like to pick up on the issues from my<22> own institution and the city and the police. Then I<23> would like to comment on some of those points that have<24> arisen today.<25> I stated in my deposition that it was my opinion

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< 1> that racially-motivated attacks on students are rarely< 2> (inaudible) an institution. Partly, I believe that is< 3> due to the composition of the students. We are very< 4> diverse and I think that is a credit to us, but also I< 5> am not aware of any mechanisms within the university< 6> that are designed to focus on providing special support< 7> for victims of racially-motivated crime, such as< 8> counselling by members of their own community or< 9> similar language speakers. That is an issue the<10> university is looking at and we have started a project<11> on that.<12> Most importantly, I believe that procedures could<13> be put in place when attacks on students are reported,<14> they can be categorised by motivation. I went on to<15> suggest that perhaps this would be practical for the<16> police. Then I read in the paper yesterday they were<17> actually supposed to do that. In 1995 the CPS set up<18> the Racial Incident Monitoring Scheme following the<19> recommendation from the Home Affairs Select committee<20> on Racial Attacks and Harassments when the police are<21> supposed to flag up any incidents which it appears to<22> the reporting officer that the complaint involves an

<23> element of racial motivation. This has already been<24> mentioned today and I believe this is something we<25> should take on board in our own institution.

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< 1> When I was asked to write this deposition and I< 2> originally started thinking about it I wrote a few< 3> things down and realised it looked like a public< 4> relations exercise: We are great because we don't have< 5> these reported, but then it occurred to me there is no< 6> mechanism there to monitor it anyway, so I think the< 7> Student Union and university could contact particular< 8> student groups and consult them more on the issues of< 9> racially-motivated crimes, again to try and gain a more<10> informed perspective to query why attacks and not<11> reported. This consultation process would then inform<12> the policy, say.<13> I think within the university the problem of<14> racism is more subtle. There seem to be two issues<15> that have arisen today: overt racism and subtle<16> racism. I think subtle racism within the university is<17> a major problem that needs to be addressed.<18> I support Diana Cavanagh in her call for greater<19> anti-racist education in the curriculum today and, on<20> the whole, I think that within the universities across<21> the country racism is not always a major problem and I<22> would put that down to education and I believe that is<23> important, especially for combating racism at the low<24> levels which then feed into crimes and violent attacks<25> later on.

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< 1> My comments about the police, if I go back to my< 2> deposition, I made a few suggestions. First of all, my< 3> observations are, and they are supported by what has< 4> been said today, that one the major problems isn't just< 5> ethnic minorities being victims of racially-motivated< 6> crime, but also being victims of the system in that< 7> they are more likely to be arrested and convicted.< 8> I would like to say that I think racism within the< 9> police has to be tackled and admitting there is a<10> problem is the first step, and I would like to applaud<11> the Chief Constable of Manchester Police in is<12> admission of that. It didn't come from the police<13> today, but that is a bit of a disappointment.<14> I believe police officers who are suspected of<15> perjury should be thoroughly investigated and those<16> found guilty should be prosecuted. I would also like<17> to talk about the Criminal Cases Review Commission<18> which was set up in 1997 to investigate miscarriages of<19> justice. They have had nearly 2,000 applications and<20> yet they only have 25 caseworkers. I would recommend<21> that more resources were invested into this

<22> organisation.<23> I have talked a bit about the acute problems at<24> the university and some of the general ones and some of<25> the more acute problems within the police.

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< 1> Earlier today they talked about the problems about< 2> the definition of institutional racism and then when< 3> explaining the high incidents of the stop and search< 4> policy on blacks said it was down possibly down to< 5> unintention stereotyping. I think that makes a very< 6> good definition of institutional racism. It is the< 7> things that are there that aren't seen and aren't< 8> picked up on.< 9> Also, the lack of confidence in the police has<10> been talked about today. While I applaud the<11> initiative in their campaign to recruit from ethnic<12> minorities, I can only say that in not recruiting<13> anyone this year or next year, that is bound to lead to<14> a fall in the competence levels in them, so perhaps<15> that should be something that Bradford police are<16> addressing.<17> I think that something that has really come out<18> today is the stop and search policy and I think that<19> really needs to be reviewed and evaluated and either<20> abolished or reformed greatly.<21> My comments to the Council: I live in an area of<22> Bradford, Bradford 7, which is an area of absolute<23> poverty, populated by students and Asian families as<24> well. The Council talked about regeneration. The<25> houses that we live in are dilapidated and vermin

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< 1> infested and I think what is needed to reduce crime< 2> levels in the area and reduce racist attacks is< 3> constant financial investment into those areas and some< 4> visible regeneration. I think the mother that just< 5> spoke who talked about housing issues hit the nail on< 6> the head there.< 7> Finally, my comments about the Inquiry today: I< 8> am not an expert in anything at all really. I would< 9> like to turn this thing around and point some questions<10> to you, if that is okay. Firstly, I notice that<11> security is quite tight today. That is quite<12> interesting. With all due respect, I am sure there are<13> some very important people here today, but what did you<14> expect us to do exactly? Is this level of security<15> really necessary or does it perpetuate levels of<16> mistrust on both sides?<17> Secondly, it is Hindu New Year today, so Happy New<18> Year, if you are here. I would like to say, I<19> understand that you are operating on a very tight time<20> schedule, but would you turn up to an Inquiry that was

<21> held on Christmas Day? Thank you for listening.<22> ALEX SOBEL: I am Alex Sobel from the West Yorkshire NUS<23> and I have been the Anti-racism Officer there for quite<24> a while now. I wanted to address the problem of<25> international students within the area of racism and I

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< 1> have a small deposition to make.< 2> International students come to this country from< 3> all over the world and hold their passes to the justice< 4> and example of fair and equitable system before they< 5> come here. A large proportion of these are black from< 6> developing countries, many with civil rights problems.< 7> A number of these students come to the Student Union< 8> and the local NUS complaining of racism, specially< 9> regarding their families having their children in<10> schools and partners in the community and of their<11> treatment by the police.<12> A good example witnessed by senior officials of<13> the university and Student Union was when a campus<14> based policeman addressed international students and<15> during talking to them he continually referred to them<16> as aliens and showed a complete lack of awareness of<17> any of the issues, regarding them as the illegal aliens<18> in our country, not as guests, not as people who pay a<19> large amount of money for their education in this<20> country.<21> Having had two years of dealing with issues of<22> student welfare, many black international students<23> coming to report on the quality of police contact have<24> not seen any British black young people making similar<25> recommendations. I believe this is because young black

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< 1> British people have lost confidence in the police,< 2> while international students come to this country< 3> believing British justice is fair. If something is not< 4> done and the racist element is not removed from< 5> policing, it will be not just be an national but an< 6> international issue, reflecting on many countries of< 7> the world outside our own, because many of these people< 8> go back to their countries and become leaders of those< 9> countries. If they think Britain has a civil rights<10> problem, human rights problem, then why should they put<11> their own house in order<12> MOHAMMED AMRAN: I am a Commissioner for the Commission<13> of Racial Equality and also a local authority employer,<14> but I am not speaking here on behalf of any of those<15> two organisations. I am speaking here in a personal<16> capacity and the person that comes from the Inner City<17> area of Manningham. I live in the Inner City area of<18> Manningham which is a high poverty area, high crime<19> area, poor housing and poor education. In 1995 the

<20> disturbances in Manningham which happened between the<21> police and young people because of some inexperienced<22> officers who did not basically know how to deal with<23> the situation, we set up the Manningham Young People's<24> Forum, which was to give young people a voice in the<25> Manningham area, to get people involved in decision

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< 1> making, to get young people to say, "this is how we< 2> feel, this is what we want", not for anyone else to< 3> speak on behalf of them.< 4> Between my two jobs I have experienced racism. I< 5> used to go to a school where there was only six black< 6> people in the school out of 400 students and one of< 7> incidents when we were all standing at the bus stop and< 8> white kids used to go past and chuck eggs and tomatoes< 9> at you and the police were called by the teachers and<10> the police came and one of the officers said: "Don't<11> you think it would be a good idea for you to move from<12> the school?" That was his answer, move from the school<13> and that would be better and that would resolve the<14> issue.<15> The second issue is there was a complaint that was<16> lodged to me a few weeks back about some white young<17> people on an estate chucking a bottle of urine at a<18> shop and the woman rang the police station and said:<19> "I have had this bottle chucked at me", and the police<20> woman replied back saying: "It is not going to kill<21> you", but it could have been a bottle of paraffin, it<22> could have been a petrol bomb. That is the attitude of<23> the police at the grass roots level.<24> It is okay saying the police are setting up a<25> Ethnic Minority Advisory Group, which I am on, but it

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< 1> is about getting the bobbies on the beat involved in< 2> that. It is about the grass roots level, getting the< 3> people of the community who really know what the< 4> feeling is facing racial harassment, facing abuse and< 5> what I would like to say to the police is they have all< 6> said these are their initiatives and local authority,< 7> but none of them had a look at the negative side of< 8> what has happened in the past. They have all said this< 9> is what we are doing. I think this Inquiry should look<10> at the negative side. It is all about getting the<11> bobbies on the grass root level involved.<12> It is okay saying an inspector will get involved<13> in (inaudible), but at the end of the day, a bobby on<14> the beat is dealing with a black person on the street<15> and he is the one that needs the training and needs to<16> be more involved and understand the issues that effect<17> black communities.<18> I was speaking to an officer a couple of weeks

<19> back and he said to me: "I went to an Asian house and<20> had a curry, I understand the Asian culture by having a<21> curry".<22> For me to stress again that we need the grass root<23> level talks and we need the grass root level<24> involvement that is why I urge the police to get the<25> officers involved in grass root issues and get the

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< 1> young people and the community and the bobbies on the< 2> beat to talk to each other and look at issues of< 3> resolving.< 4> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you.< 5> BISHOP SENTAMU: Claudia Bradshaw, are the students< 6> also reluctant to report racial incidents like the rest< 7> of the population? Do you find the same fear there?< 8> CLAUDIA BRADSHAW: It is difficult for me to answer this< 9> question.<10> BISHOP SENTAMU: If you haven't got the statistics,<11> don't guess.<12> CLAUDIA BRADSHAW: The problem is we don't, the<13> university as an institution doesn't, as far as I am<14> aware, have those statistics, so there is a problem.<15> How can they monitor what it is like or how can they<16> say what the problem is if they are not monitoring, and<17> I guess I would like to thank you in a way because if I<18> hadn't had come here and write this speech it wouldn't<19> have occurred to me as a problem, because as a white<20> student I don't come up against it. But that is<21> something I would like to see in place.<22> One comment I would make is perhaps it is not so<23> much fear, but just kind of lack of confidence in the<24> system that something ought to be done and that is why,<25> I think, things don't get reported.

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< 1> BISHOP SENTAMU: This isn't a question, but probably a< 2> record. In my question to Mr Lloyd Clarke this morning< 3> on institutional racism, I thought I played back to him< 4> what he said back to us in London. He said for him:< 5> "Institutional racism means an intention or< 6> prejudice. That prejudice is subconscious, almost< 7> subliminal, then I totally accept the concept". I< 8> thought he said that this morning, and then pressed by< 9> Mr Cook about stop and search, because he<10> said "stereotyping may be", I thought in the end he<11> said he thought it was, no longer just a may be, but a<12> great possibility, and I also thought that he had also<13> said that because it is racism in the wider community<14> and society, those attitudes shape people and when<15> those attitudes and behaviours go into the organisation<16> they play the similar sort of unfortunate reality, but<17> I thought this was what he was saying this morning,

<18> which isn't all that far out, in many ways, from what<19> other officers (inaudible) to institutional racism.<20> That is what I thought I heard this morning and the<21> transcript shall show us.<22> As students, I want to ask, and I have a son now<23> who is 19 and he is in university, what apart from<24> studying a lot and doing this kind of thing, what in<25> terms of all this question of preventing,

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< 1> investigation, racially-motivated crime, what is it you< 2> would like to see in place so that youngsters like< 3> Stephen Lawrence never go through that, as a young< 4> person?< 5> CLAUDIA BRADSHAW: The two issues that are here today< 6> are the problems of acute racism; what you end up with< 7> at the end of the day, the worst end of the scale and< 8> suffering violent crime and racially-motivated attacks,< 9> and I would like to see my institution, the university,<10> academic institutions, having open and accountable<11> policies, procedures and mechanisms that are put into<12> place. I would like to be able to ring my university<13> and get the statistics straightaway and be able to<14> bring them to this Inquiry rather than not having<15> them. That would give me more faith and confidence in<16> the system.<17> But also, I do think that tackling the problem of<18> subtle racism is so important. I mean, within my<19> students community in university it does not appear to<20> be a major problem because students are educated, they<21> don't tolerate it, they won't accept it, which is good,<22> but the more subtle kinds still lurk and still exist<23> and I really think that I would like to see more<24> education at lower levels of primary school and not<25> just at university level against racism. I don't know

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< 1> how else I can answer that question.< 2> MR COOK: Mohammed Amran, you spoke about the difference< 3> between grass-roots attitudes and attitudes of senior< 4> police officers and you have members of the senior< 5> police sitting in the front row listening to you and a< 6> member of the Police Authority and a previous speaker< 7> spoke about the need to speak to black youths and you< 8> said the same kind of thing in setting up a youth< 9> forum. How would you like to see the police take that<10> forward? Without putting words in the police's mouth,<11> they may find some difficulty in creating a direct<12> dialogue with black youths in particular. How can they<13> best take that forward as far as you are concerned?<14> MOHAMMED AMRAN: The best way I would think of in taking<15> that forward is using the youth workers on the projects<16> existing in the area and getting more involved in what

<17> the initiatives happening locally and trying to build a<18> link, not come when there is a problem and say: "There<19> is a problem now, now we need to listen to the views of<20> the black youth." Let's start work from the beginning,<21> not when there is a problem, and I think it is more<22> about a multi-agency approach. We definitely need a<23> multi-agency approach and that is the only way we are<24> going to get young people off the streets involved.<25> The police can't do it on their own, but they need to

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< 1> use the resources already there and build their links< 2> through that.< 3> MR COOK: When you say multi-agency approach, it is a< 4> nice phrase, are you talking about real grass-roots< 5> groups of police officers sitting down with groups of< 6> black youths organised by youth workers?< 7> MOHAMMED AMRAN: Yes.< 8> DR STONE: Is that the group that I met you with a year< 9> and a half ago?<10> MOHAMMED AMRAN: Yes.<11> DR STONE: Because I found that very impressive. I<12> spent an hour with a group of you and I was very<13> impressed.<14> It seems to me that having heard in 1995 a lot of<15> the problems in Manningham, as I understand it, were<16> between Muslim and Hindu young people, to find there<17> were was a very active group of Muslim and Hindu young<18> people working together and enjoying each other's<19> company and doing things in common, and it was a very<20> powerful defence, I suppose, and also positive action<21> for getting people to improve themselves. But is that<22> group still going?<23> MOHAMMED AMRAN: The group is still going.<24> DR STONE: Who supports it? Young people move on. One<25> of the difficulties, particularly with student groups,

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< 1> is the group changes from one year to the next. Does< 2> that happen with your group?< 3> MOHAMMED AMRAN: Because it is mostly young people from< 4> the area who were involved in the group and it is< 5> supported by youth and community and various voluntary< 6> organisations, including the Church Urban Fund, which< 7> funded the group for 3 years. At the end of the day< 8> for the group to stay alive you need fund, not for 6< 9> months, you need funding for or 3 or 4 years. That is<10> what a lot or organisations here are facing. They need<11> to have long-term strategies saying the funding is here<12> for 3 years and for 3 years develop something and that<13> is what a lot of organisations here face, the cutbacks,<14> basically.<15> DR STONE: In a way, it is what Karl Oxford was telling

<16> us, it makes business sense. Business cannot thrive<17> unless there is a stable community, and without a<18> stable community everything falls apart.<19> THE CHAIRMAN: You have just given us hot from the<20> press your written document. Perhaps you would just<21> summarise what you would like to put before us and we<22> will consider it of course in detail afterwards.<23> MOHAMMAD TAJ: Thank you, sir.<24> I will introduce myself to you. I am<25> Mohammed Taj. I have lived in Bradford since my early

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< 1> teens. I am an employee and former worker/director of< 2> the local bus company. I am now a full-time training< 3> representative. I serve in several local institutions,< 4> such as the tech, Trades Council and Industrial< 5> Tribunal. I am the chair of the Transport and Workers< 6> Union National Equal Opportunities Committee.< 7> Following what became known as the Manning (?)< 8> Riots, I was asked to be part of an independent< 9> commission inquiry to look into the origins and to make<10> recommendations to prevent their reoccurrence.<11> Subsequently, I published a report, which was highly<12> critical of not only local institutions and the<13> Police Service, but also of the ethnic minority<14> communities. The report contained a range of detailed<15> practical proposals of which I shall say more later.<16> Since publishing the report I have been frequently<17> contacted by people who have concerns about police<18> community relations. Moreover, I have had discussions,<19> usually on the basis of the strictest confidentiality,<20> with upwards of 30 serving police officers of various<21> ranks who have expressed the misgivings of certain<22> officers with members of ethnic communities.<23> I think there are two challenges to the<24> West Yorkshire Constabulary. First, I trust that they<25> have followed the courageous footsteps of their

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< 1> colleagues in Greater Manchester and registered the< 2> fact that they are a racist institution.< 3> Secondly, and far more damning, I feel they should< 4> acknowledge the fact that they are a racist< 5> institution, which was made plain to them following the< 6> Manning (?) Riots, and that they have failed in the< 7> intervening years to take any real action to remedy the< 8> situation.< 9> It is proper that I offer some evidence to support<10> my belief that the police are a racist institution.<11> There exists, I believe, three types of evidence:<12> attested, anecdotal and influential. The first of<13> these is the attested, the realist. Nonetheless, there<14> are examples of police officers who have been judged in

<15> courts of law to have been guilty of racist behaviour.<16> The rarity speaks of the difficulties of evidence. The<17> ability of officers to close ranks, the ineffectiveness<18> of the Police Complaints Authority and the Courts who<19> give police officers the benefit of the doubt.<20> The second form of evidence is the strictest<21> sense, anecdotal. Far too many members of ethnic<22> minorities can give compelling accounts of racist<23> behaviour by police.<24> In my report I have noted that if nine of every 10<25> accounts of such behaviour were discounted as

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< 1> misapprehensions, all plain lies, we are still left< 2> with an unacceptable number of racial incidents.< 3> I would now revise that. In the past 3 years I< 4> have been given so many and such detailed lucid< 5> accounts of racist behaviour by officers, some of them< 6> coming from police officers themselves. I am now moved< 7> to say if 99 of 100 were complete and utter lies and< 8> half of the remainders were misunderstandings it would< 9> still indicate a police force absolutely riddled with<10> racism.<11> The third form of evidence is influential. The<12> question must be posed: why are members of ethnic<13> minorities unwilling to become police officers? Why<14> are members of ethnic minorities reluctant to report<15> incidents of racist behaviour? Why does the Police<16> Service discipline an insignificant number of officers<17> for racist behaviour?<18> As with all complex problems, there are a<19> multiplicity of causes, many of them interrelated.<20> However, the most significant reason that members of<21> ethnic minorities will not join the police is because<22> they know it to be a hostile, racist environment.<23> The most significant reason that members of ethnic<24> minorities will not report racist behaviour is the fact<25> that they or someone they know and trust will have been

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< 1> fobbed off from making a complaint in the past. A more< 2> significant reason the police force discipline so few< 3> officers for racism is the fact they do not pursue the< 4> issue with sufficient vigor.< 5> Can I now turn to the Police Service's failure to< 6> take any real action to remedy the situation. Three< 7> years ago in my report I put forward a number of very< 8> practical proposals to improve the way in which the< 9> police force understood and related with ethnic<10> minorities. These included:<11> Structure race awareness, an integral part of<12> police training, throughout every officer's career and<13> making it a prerequisite for promotion;

<14> Creating a scheme of home visits and social<15> activities between probation, constables and families<16> within the Asian communities;<17> Appointing an external and independent counsellor<18> for race relations to advise and support officers from<19> ethnic minority backgrounds and to record behaviour<20> affected by racial harassment;<21> Reporting on a regular basis to the chief<22> constable and police authority;<23> Establishing a standard operating procedure that<24> patrolling multi-ethnic areas will always include an<25> experienced appropriately trained officer in charge;

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< 1> Putting greater emphasis on a positive appearance< 2> and demeanour of officers on patrol;< 3> Having a trial, local complaints and appreciation< 4> scheme, a step down from a formal complaints procedure;< 5> Shifting police training or planning for public< 6> order incidents from focusing exclusively on physical< 7> control to what have been called oblique tactics;< 8> Altering both the appearance and operation of< 9> (inaudible) in order to make it a much more accepted<10> feature of local life.<11> I am disheartened to say that not one of those<12> proposals has been acted on. Please do not think I am<13> expressing any personal peak at this point for, in<14> truth, not one of the proposals were my own idea. They<15> all were suggested by concerned members of the local<16> community, both black and white.<17> Furthermore, I never anticipated that there would<18> or could be adopted wholesale by the police. I did,<19> however, trust that the proposal would be, in part, at<20> least incorporated into the Service's plans, goals and<21> operations. I profoundly regret that this was not the<22> case. The Service's response was clearly about<23> recognising the need for change while doing nothing of<24> substance.<25> Let me illustrate this with some glaring

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< 1> examples. When researching the report I was struck by< 2> how deeply the wearing of protected vests by the police< 3> were resented by the local people in inner city areas.< 4> Many feeling it gave an impression of being patrolled< 5> by an occupying paramilitary force, rather than be< 6> protected by its own police constables. I suggested a< 7> vest should be worn under other items of uniform. This< 8> has failed to happen, however the majority of the< 9> officers today not only wear vests on display, but are<10> also encumbered with batons, spray canisters, solid<11> handcuffs, a variety of military looking pouches and<12> even earpieces. They are now beginning to appear as a

<13> cross between the US Secret Service and the<14> French CRS.<15> To give another example, despite any assurance<16> from CID officers, I am aware from my conversations<17> with serving officers that any real understanding and<18> commitment of the City's ethnic community is far from<19> being advantage when seeking promotions. Community<20> relations, as it is termed, is viewed as at best a<21> career dead end. I must now give by far the most<22> disappointing example.<23> The report urged the police force to adopt a<24> simple specific statement that the racist behaviour by<25> its officers will not be tolerated and that proven

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< 1> incidents will result in dismissal. The police were< 2> unable to do this, one simple but massively significant< 3> thing. Instead CID officers gave statements to this< 4> effect: "Any misbehaviour or wrongdoing could result in< 5> discipline and eventual dismissal."< 6> The failure to adopt such a statement regarding< 7> racism proved beyond all doubt that the police refused< 8> to recognise racism as a central distinct substantial< 9> problem, and if they cannot recognise the problem, its<10> full nature and extent, they cannot even begin to<11> resolve it<12> THE CHAIRMAN: You have added to that extracts from your<13> minority report; is that right?<14> MOHAMMAD TAJ: That's right.<15> THE CHAIRMAN: Which we will of course read. Were some<16> of the recommendations that you made also incorporated<17> in the main report?<18> MOHAMMAD TAJ: That is where the major failing was of<19> my two colleagues and myself, we could not agree<20> whether there should be recommendations or not.<21> THE CHAIRMAN: So, the ones you have set out here were<22> purely in your minority report?<23> MOHAMMAD TAJ: Yes.<24> THE CHAIRMAN: I understand, yes.<25> MR COOK: I clearly would not ask you to betray any

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< 1> confidences, but could you give us the gist. You said< 2> you have seen over a period of time something like< 3> 30 officers in this area who talk to you, if you like,< 4> off the record about attitudes within the police< 5> service, et cetera. Can you give us a gist of what< 6> they are saying.< 7> MOHAMMAD TAJ: I think it is very difficult to give a< 8> sort of an exact gist or the period I have spent to< 9> give a description of what has been said. What has<10> been said by many officers is that there is a<11> tremendous amount of fear within the force.

<12> Particularly black officers are now supported by higher<13> ranking officers within the force and, therefore, they<14> are reluctant to come out. I have met many officers<15> from time to time on a personal basis -- even during<16> the Inquiry I understand there was a letter sent to<17> each black police officer to come forward to speak to<18> the three Commissioners. Unfortunately, only five came<19> to see us. However, I met with 20 black police<20> officers afterwards in private. What was said to me<21> was they were not going to come and meet us because<22> over the years many careers have gone down the tube<23> because confidences had been broken.<24> MR COOK: Okay, thank you.<25> You also mention that you saw -- one of the things

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< 1> that concerns this court and every other one now is< 2> going to be obviously a national target following< 3> Jack Straw's announcement, is recruitment of black< 4> police officers. You said you feel the central reason< 5> is lack of trust. How do you see that being overcome< 6> and clearly the force has to be overcome, the problems< 7> and other surrounding problems, to meet Mr Straw's< 8> targets? What are the ways forward in that particular< 9> area?<10> MOHAMMAD TAJ: I have suggested in my report, which I<11> have included an extract, where I made a strong<12> recommendation that there should be an absolute<13> independent counsellor. We should be there to support<14> the black officers and ethnic minorities and he or she<15> should report directly to the chief constable.<16> MR COOK: Presumably, you have been present this<17> morning, have you?<18> MOHAMMAD TAJ: Unfortunately, I was in discussions with<19> my company over some difficulties this morning, no.<20> MR COOK: Okay, I will not ask you the following<21> question then.<22> DR STONE: I do not have any questions, but thank you.<23> I hope we will meet again.<24> BISHOP SENTAMU: Have any of the recommendations in the<25> main report there shown any signs of being taken on

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< 1> board? This huge thing here, has anything been done at< 2> all?< 3> MOHAMMAD TAJ: If it has I have not noticed it or< 4> nobody has mentioned it to me.< 5> BISHOP SENTAMU: In other words, people may be doing< 6> things, but on the ground, and the very reasons that< 7> gives rise to those difficulties still persist?< 8> MOHAMMAD TAJ: I believe so, sir, yes.< 9> BISHOP SENTAMU: One final thing: if the police were,<10> and I think you make the case up and provide it to

<11> everyone else, that it is sometimes the inability of<12> the police to accept institutional racism. That, in<13> fact, has hindered quite a number of minority ethnic<14> communities to join the police in large numbers because<15> they said themselves: "In society we experience<16> racism. According to the organisation we all have<17> discretionary powers to experience it even worse. Why<18> should we do it?"<19> Supposing the police were to commit itself, in<20> despite of England, to challenge, you know, police<21> policy, practice or behaviour, intentional or<22> unintentional, which has racist consequences. Do you<23> feel that that may actually have at least set the tone<24> from where your concerns are coming from, which are<25> very clearly put? Do you think that is going to be a

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< 1> help?< 2> MOHAMMAD TAJ: It would be a tremendous help. If I< 3> could just suggest, as a stark canteen culture within< 4> the police stations, it would tremendously help black< 5> police officers and it would allow more people to< 6> join. It would be a black perception of the police< 7> force outside (inaudible).< 8> BISHOP SENTAMU: I hope the police officers are hearing< 9> that. Thank you.<10> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much for your contribution<11> and for the work you have done in assembling your paper<12> for us.<13> Now we have the last submission which is from the<14> Bradford Race Equality Council. I think the chair of<15> that council is here, Lynne Kent, and the director,<16> Ishtiaq Ahmed.<17> LYNNE KENT: Good afternoon. First of all, on behalf<18> of the Bradford Racial Equality Council, I would like<19> to express our deepest sympathy to Mr and Mrs Lawrence<20> and their family and friends at the tragic loss of<21> their son Stephen, and we hope that the recommendations<22> and actions resulting from this Inquiry will serve as a<23> lasting tribute to Stephen's life.<24> I find it rather ironic being here today.<25> Seventeen years ago my husband was called upon to give

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< 1> evidence at the Scarman Inquiry. He was at the time a< 2> Minister of the Methodist Church in Brixton. Whilst< 3> Lord Scarman's recommendations have been put into play< 4> since, if not already into practice, it is nevertheless< 5> a solitary experience to be sitting here so many years< 6> later revisiting much of the same territory and the< 7> same issues.< 8> Britain is a multi-racial, multi-cultural,< 9> multi-religious society and as individuals and as a

<10> society we need to take that fact on board urgently. I<11> hope, therefore, that this Inquiry will make<12> recommendations which will result in real changes in<13> the near future. It is in this context that I present<14> the submission of the Bradford Racial Equality Council.<15> The Bradford Racial Equality Council is a local<16> body, jointly funded by the Commission for Racial<17> Equality and the Local Authority, which deals with<18> issues of racial discrimination within the framework of<19> the Race Relations Act 1976.<20> It is a voluntary agency which is the only<21> organisation in Bradford which has the involvement of<22> all the racial, cultural and religiously diverse<23> communities.<24> It has continuously played a leading role in<25> developing and promoting race strategies with major

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< 1> public, private and voluntary agencies in Bradford.< 2> For example, the REC played a crucial and leading< 3> role in helping to diffuse the tension during the< 4> disturbances of 1995. More importantly, it has been< 5> involved in the process of trying to rebuild a< 6> constructive dialogue between the police and the local< 7> community, especially with the local young people.< 8> Many of the positive initiatives that have come about< 9> have been with the help of our intervention. For<10> example:<11> The establishment of the Minority Ethnic<12> Communities Police Liaison Committee, which was<13> referred to this morning;<14> Training for police officers at all levels of the<15> local police force in dealing with both individual and<16> institutional racism and also in cultural awareness;<17> Successfully supporting the case for the<18> Single Regeneration Budget being granted to the area,<19> and in ensuring local participation in the bidding<20> process;<21> Various youth development initiatives across the<22> City and the police involvement with them.<23> We also actively support the victims of racial<24> violence and harassment and we have taken a leading<25> role in the work of the Bradford Alliance Against

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< 1> Racial Harassment, which aims to deal more effectively< 2> with racial incidents through a multi-agency approach,< 3> and you heard from the Bradford Alliance again this< 4> morning.< 5> Racial incidents take place at work, on the< 6> streets, in people's homes and in a variety of social< 7> settings. Therefore, any approach we take to this< 8> needs to be focused and flexible.

< 9> Racial harassment and violence is endemic in<10> Britain and Bradford is no exception to this. In the<11> past 6 months 40 incidents have been directly reported<12> to the Bradford Racial Equality Council, which is<13> already higher than for the whole of last year. This<14> does not include the statistics of reports to other<15> agencies, for example the Council, the police, Bradford<16> Alliance and other sources. What we do know, however,<17> is there is massive under reporting and this is<18> confirmed by the experience of the Bradford Alliance<19> Against Racial Harassment.<20> The reasons for this under reporting include:<21> Lack of confidence on the part of the victim;<22> In many cases victims are unaware of the help<23> available;<24> Some victims feel that if they report racial<25> harassment there may well be reprisals, and this is

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< 1> particularly true about people who are subjected to< 2> racial harassment at work and especially in the private< 3> sector where the victim has to weigh up the option of< 4> taking up a case and the possibility of being< 5> victimised for doing so. At the workplace,< 6> perpetrators of racially-motivated incidents are often< 7> people who hold positions of power, for example< 8> managers, supervisors, et cetera;< 9> There is also a strong perception, and I repeat<10> that, a strong perception, that some members of law<11> enforcement agencies have strong allegiances to right<12> wing ideologies and will not, therefore, take the<13> complaints seriously. Hence, people are discouraged<14> from reporting incidents.<15> On estates and inner city areas victims of racial<16> incidents tend to suffer over a prolonged period of<17> time (1 or 2 years is common), but some go on for much<18> longer than that. Incidents can be multi-faceted.<19> Damage to property, to cars, to houses, setting dogs<20> onto children, having excrement and urine thrown at<21> property. Victims almost always suffer physical<22> illnesses caused by stress. Another common complaint<23> by victims is that relatives who visit are also<24> verbally or physically abused or may have their cars<25> attacked.

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< 1> The problems from the victim's point of view are< 2> twofold:< 3> In the majority of cases victims complain that the< 4> agency response to a racial incident is too slow.< 5> For example, on a housing estate a victim may wish to< 6> move in order to get away from the harassment, but this< 7> can take months or even years. Even when perpetrators

< 8> are known it can still take months or years to secure< 9> any kind of effective action. These delays in response<10> put people off the reporting of further racial<11> incidents;<12> Victims feel frustrated that the complaint<13> procedures against agencies are inaccessible,<14> cumbersome and slow in their outcomes. This further<15> demoralises and frustrates victims;<16> Many victims, for a variety of reasons, blame the<17> police for not solving the problem of racial<18> harassment. This brings suspicion of the police and<19> victims lose confidence in their ability to get a fair<20> hearing. Negative experiences of a few tend to<21> reinforce perceptions about police and their<22> willingness to help victims of racial harassment. Even<23> an individual act of one police officer reinforces<24> negative stereotypes about the police. Again, I quote<25> the example of the family who had a 2 litre bottle

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< 1> filled with urine thrown inside their premises by< 2> racists and the police officer told the family:< 3> "At least it was not petrol." I think the fact that< 4> that quote has been mentioned two or three times today< 5> shows the power of one remark by one individual police< 6> officer and how that can spread;< 7> There are many who have felt that the legislation< 8> itself does not provide enough protection, although< 9> this may change now that for the first time racial<10> harassment is recognised as a criminal act and stiffer<11> sentences may be meted out.<12> We would like to make some recommendations:<13> There is a need for greater coordination between<14> agencies and we, therefore, need to build on the<15> multi-agency approach with coordination taking place at<16> the grass roots level as encouraged by the Bradford<17> Alliance Against Racial Harassment. Also other people<18> speaking today have again and again talked about<19> multi-agency approach and the need for cooperation at<20> grass roots level;<21> The help to victims needs to be local and readily<22> accessible and the response to racial incidents has to<23> be immediate in every case. I would like to<24> underline "immediate in every case";<25> Reporting of racial harassment needs to be

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< 1> accurately and systematically logged by all agencies,< 2> so that we can get a wider picture of what actually is< 3> happening;< 4> Complaints procedures also need to be accessible< 5> and themselves produce quick remedies and they need to< 6> be independently monitored and reviewed;

< 7> The provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998,< 8> which came into force on 30th September, is a step in< 9> the right direction in recognising racially-aggravated<10> crime and increasing the sentencing power of judges.<11> The effectiveness of this new legislation will depend<12> on a genuine partnership between agencies, particularly<13> the police and other law enforcement agencies who need<14> to approach the issue with vigor and in a proactive<15> manner. There are obvious recruitment, training and<16> resource implications here;<17> The police need to take steps, not only to deal<18> with individual or institutionalised racism within its<19> ranks, but also to be seen to be dealing with any such<20> racism;<21> There needs to be more recruits from the ethnic<22> minority communities to the police force. This needs<23> there will need to be a serious look at recruitment and<24> recruitment practices, but also more importantly, what<25> happens when people get past that stage and begin their

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< 1> careers;< 2> There is an ever present strength of extreme right< 3> wing organisations whose activities can undermine< 4> efforts to combat racism and racial violence and this< 5> calls for a concerted effort on the part of agencies to< 6> minimise such influences on their policies and< 7> practices;< 8> We need to educate society more generally in how< 9> racism operates and the effect of racism on people's<10> lives and we need to do this in schools and in youth<11> clubs and work right through.<12> Just another recommendation that I would add to<13> the written submission, I think that the media also has<14> a responsibility here. I think they need to look at<15> the effects of what they write, what they print on the<16> community and on individuals.<17> We know that although we have not done any<18> scientific research into this, but even when there are<19> racial conflicts in other parts of Britain, in other<20> parts of the world even, that can have a knock-on<21> effect in Bradford. But even more so when incidents<22> are reported in the local press, in the local media,<23> about the situation here. There needs to be a real<24> sensitivity in the reporting and they need to be on the<25> side of those who are trying to engage in constructive

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< 1> dialogue and to work together to make Bradford and< 2> Britain a better society.< 3> A lot of groundwork has already been undertaken in< 4> Bradford through multi-agency approach to deal with the< 5> problems associated with racially-motivated offences.

< 6> Agencies need to work together and with the community< 7> at a local level to ensure that victims are confident< 8> of an immediate response, and this is likely to< 9> continue through the work of the Bradford Alliance on<10> Racial Harassment. I am delighted that they have got<11> the funding to expand the work they have started to the<12> whole of the Bradford district.<13> If ways can be found to implement some of the<14> recommendations that we have made then this will also<15> go somewhere to re-establish people's confidence in the<16> British Justice System.<17> The more important thing, however, is that people<18> need to acknowledge that racism is endemic in British<19> society, whether intentional or unintentional, whether<20> individual or institutional. It is only, as somebody<21> said to me at the weekend, when we breakthrough this<22> glass ceiling that we will be able to work together and<23> make Britain a better place to live. Thank you.<24> THE CHAIRMAN: Do you wish to add something?<25> ISHTIAQ AHMED: Chair, no. All I need to say is

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< 1> "hi supporters".< 2> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much.< 3> DR STONE: When you talked about under reporting on the< 4> first page of your document, do you actually yourselves< 5> at the RAC keep any records of incidents of one kind or< 6> another?< 7> ISHTIAQ AHMED: Sir, I believe, every incident reported< 8> to us is recorded. We also record where the incident< 9> has been passed on, in terms of referrals. We also<10> monitor the result of it, the outcome as well.<11> DR STONE: Because, therefore, it seems to me your<12> organisation may actually have some more consistent<13> figures than are kept by anybody else and going over a<14> longer period.<15> ISHTIAQ AHMED: I think perhaps our organisation keeps<16> figures for Bradford Met in terms of we do collate<17> figures for other agencies as well. All incidents are<18> reported to me.<19> DR STONE: Do you have any trends to tell us about?<20> ISHTIAQ AHMED: I think it is important to say that the<21> racial harassment seems to be Bradford Met white.<22> There seems to be a fairly even spread throughout all<23> distance of Bradford. Where we have introduced<24> colleagues from Bradford Alliance on Racial Harassment<25> certainly we have seen an increase from those

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< 1> particularly where we seem to have localised the help< 2> in terms of the community-based projects we have< 3> received. So that suggests to us if there were more< 4> localised help and reporting centres around Bradford

< 5> there would be more people reporting racial harassment.< 6> DR STONE: I am disturbed at your strong perception< 7> that you describe: "Some members of the law< 8> enforcement agencies have strong allegiances to right< 9> wing ideologies." Do you have any actual evidence of<10> that?<11> ISHTIAQ AHMED: Chair, that was based on what we hear<12> and pick up from victims of racial harassment and when<13> we ask them why don't they report to the police and<14> they say that sometimes when they have approached the<15> police the attitude of police officers is no better<16> than and sometimes worse than BNP and National Front.<17> More importantly, I think the point being, whether<18> it is right or wrong, the fact that there is that<19> perception being held within the community by people,<20> discourteous people. I think that is something that we<21> as agencies, together with the police, need to do<22> something to dispel that if that is not true.<23> Of course if that is true, then I think the police has<24> a real responsibility to do something about it. It is<25> already stated that police is part and parcel of the

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< 1> society in which we live. Racism is endemic. I am< 2> sure that if that is the case, endemic also in the< 3> police, that there must be individual officers in the< 4> police force and if racist individuals exist in the< 5> police force then one can assume very safely that they< 6> will have sympathy with the National Front and BNP.< 7> DR STONE: Have there been marches by BNP or< 8> National Front in Bradford in recent years?< 9> ISHTIAQ AHMED: Not marches, but we have seen from time<10> to time massive leafleting, particularly around ----<11> DR STONE: What I was trying to get at is has there<12> been any policing of BNP activities, marches or<13> anything like that, so you have not been able to<14> compare the policing of a march protecting the BNP, if<15> you like, compared to any other activities?<16> ISHTIAQ AHMED: No.<17> DR STONE: Thank you very much, indeed.<18> On the same subject, in your recommendations, you<19> say that this calls for a concerted effort on the part<20> of agencies to minimise influences of extreme right<21> wing organisations on polices and practices. How can<22> one do that?<23> ISHTIAQ AHMED: I did tell the Chair the point we are<24> trying to make is of course for very good reasons the<25> police has been the subject of target here today, but

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< 1> if we are going to really tackle racism, which is a< 2> society-wide issue, then we need to call upon agencies,< 3> like local authorities, trade unions, community groups,

< 4> voluntary organisations, law centres, racial equality< 5> councils and, more importantly, the government to take< 6> a lead of this one. I think what is important, and< 7> more important, is that we have not heard in why< 8> 32 years of life in Britain a statement from the< 9> Prime Minister of this country which has heard that<10> black people, Asian people, minorities, are an<11> essential part of Britain. They are here, they were<12> born here and they have every right to live in society<13> with dignity and they have every right here as<14> citizens.<15> It is important that agencies, such as police,<16> local authorities, trade unions and other voluntary<17> organisations through large and small, local and<18> national, take an open lead on these issues and to make<19> sure that racism is something that we do not want in<20> society. Right wing, extremist, fascist elements no<21> matter where they exist and which community they come<22> from are not wanted and if they are going to surface<23> then we are going to be together to fight them to<24> eliminate them and I think that is the only way to<25> tackle this.

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< 1> DR STONE: One final question: wherever we have got we< 2> have increasingly seen as the day goes on, beginning of< 3> the day depending on the sequence of events, a sort of< 4> yawning gap between communities who feel, as you< 5> described earlier, over policed and under policed,< 6> depending on which part of the system they are in, and< 7> the police forces themselves. One of the things we are< 8> going to have to come up with is ways in which we can< 9> bring together communities and the police to create a<10> new trust which is based on a real trust between<11> communities and their police and the police and their<12> community. How can we do that? Do you have thoughts<13> on that?<14> ISHTIAQ AHMED: I think that moment has to begin from<15> grass root level. It is the local communities who have<16> invested a great deal to be working closely with the<17> police, and I think the police also has to recognise<18> that it cannot carry out its responsibility as a law<19> enforcer without involvement support of the communities<20> they are policing, and I think that is the condition.<21> Also I think the communities need to recognise<22> that whatever ill feeling that we may have about the<23> police we cannot do without policing and that sense of<24> reality and responsibility both on the police and the<25> community side is likely to take us further, but it has

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< 1> to be from grass root level all the way upward.< 2> The other thing is, I think, when you are talking

< 3> about racial harassment -- there are many of us sitting< 4> here -- I wonder what they would do if their neighbour< 5> happened to be a black or Asian getting beaten up. I< 6> suggest that many of us would close our doors, pull our< 7> curtains and hope the problem would go away. There is< 8> a real responsibility on us as members of the< 9> community, and particularly on the white majority, to<10> talk a real responsibility that if you have an Asian or<11> black family living next to you or are your neighbours,<12> you may not throw petrol bombs in their garden, but<13> somebody else may do, and rather than closing your<14> doors and shutting your curtains and wishing that the<15> problem would go away once the Asian or black family<16> has been moved away, if you are there, I think racism<17> or racial harassment is going to flourish against black<18> people.<19> So I think it is important that communities,<20> black, white, Asians take a real responsibility and we<21> examine who they are, what they are and what we do to<22> each other and then we will be able to point fingers at<23> agencies and those institutions who fail to take on the<24> responsibilities. But if we carry out our<25> responsibility in the community -- to others I think it

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< 1> would be best to point fingers and say other agencies< 2> are ignoring their responsibilities. Housing said they< 3> would like it in writing and he said he would put it in< 4> writing. The meeting was only about 3 weeks ago.< 5> THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much.< 6> I am going to close the proceedings now, partly< 7> because we did not have a break to allow a rest for the< 8> extremely hard working girls who take down every word< 9> that is said and they have had a long afternoon.<10> Thank you all very much indeed for coming. We thank<11> the Bradford City Council and the Race Equality Council<12> for their help in arranging our programme. I feel that<13> if this meeting had been held or mooted a year ago when<14> we started it would not have been as well attended as<15> it has today and we thank every member of the public<16> for their support and their interest in these Inquiry's<17> proceedings.<18> (The Inquiry Adjourned at 4.10 pm)<19><20><21><22><23><24><25>

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