Police and Crime Commissioners: V4CE Think piece What have the Police and Crime Commissioners done on their watch over the first year in post and what does it mean for Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugees (BAMER) communities and the sector, particularly outside London? Today is the first anniversary of the election of the Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs). 41 PCCs were elected outside London 1 with a very low turn out of 15 per cent 2 - a historical low in terms of elections. In London the current Mayor also serves as the Police and Crime Commissioner. Headline figures reveal that 31.7 per cent of elected PCCs were previously involved with the police authority 3 (12 members and one staff member). Eight PCCs are former Police Officers (19.5 per cent) 4. The gender gap of elected PCCs identifies 36 are men and six are women 5. Revealing 1 Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. (2013). A Bite Sized Guide. Available: http://www.apccs.police.uk/fileuploads/homepage-adverts/apcc_bite_size_guide.pdf. Last accessed 02 Dec 2013. 2 Travis, A. and Laville, Sandra. (2013). PCC elections: independents make their mark as turnout slumps to record low. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/nov/16/policecommissioner. 3 Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. (2013). What might Police and Crime Commissioners do?. Available: http://www.apccs.police.uk/page/pcc-candidates. Last accessed 02 Dec 2013. 4 Ibid.
statistics also show that 19 PCCs (46 per cent) are current or former Councillors 6 (PCCs may of course retain their council seats) and six are former MPs (15 per cent) 7. None are from a BME background. Our perspective as a national member-led BME infrastructure organisation is around in particular BME VCS groups understanding of the PCC arrangements including the police panels and also exposing the way that partnerships with the police operate. We feel that the new arrangements still don t have sufficient transparency and that there is not enough accountability built in. There are still questions to be asked about the commissioning of VCS groups as well as social enterprises and what is in place for 2014. Are BME groups aware of the VCS offer and the Safer Future Communities (SFC) agenda? We are also concerned from the analysis done by SFC that 31 of the 39 Police and Crime Plans produced so far failed to mention the needs of BME communities in any way! What have they done to tackle issues of inequality in policing and disproportionality in terms of stop and search, police harassment and brutality of Black, minority ethnic and refugee communities 8? Again from the SFC research issue is only mentioned by two PCCS under social cohesion and respecting diversity 9. Have they engaged and listened to families who have experienced a death in custody or after contact with the police? What has been their role in overseeing the police operational practice in Child Sexual Exploitation Operations such as Operation Bullfinch 10 and Ribbon 11 in Thames Valley and anti-crime Operations such as the one in Leicester (Operation Tiger) 12 after the tragic deaths that hit the city in the last few months? 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid 7 Ibid 8 Safer Communities First. (2013). Police Crime Plan Analysis. Available: http://www.clinks.org/sites/default/files/policecrimeplansanalysis1314.pdf. Last accessed 04 Dec 2013. 9 Ibid 10 Laville, Sandra. (2013). Oxford child sex abuse ring: senior officials will not resign over failings. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/may/15/oxford-child-sex-policerefuse-resign. 11 Bucks Free Press. (2013). Operation Ribbon: Trial Starts Next Week. Available: http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/10426943.operation_ribbon Trial_begins_next_week/. 12 Fagan, C. (2013). Drug suspects arrested after police raid house in Highfields, Leicester Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/drug-suspects-arrested-police-raid-house/story- 20007441-detail/story.html#ixzz2mL. Available: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/drugsuspects-arrested-police-raid-house/story-20007441-detail/story.html. Last accessed 02 Dec 2013.
We need to be asking questions about comparison with the previous Police Authority arrangements and how this has democratised the police service and encouraged local debates about policing. Has there been a difference between PCC arrangements and the previous Police Authority or is it merely a case of just moving the furniture and a rebadging exercise? How successful are the Police and Crime Panels and scrutiny arrangements? This only scrutinises the PCC not the Chief Constable and they hold considerable power to set budgets/appoint chief constables etc. The PCC within each force area has a statutory duty and electoral mandate to hold the police to account on behalf of the public. But given the low turn out do they have a mandate in the eyes of the public? The role is strategic not operational but for the majority of people the latter is most important so there are question marks about their overall value. There are also potential conflicts of interests even though they agree to an oath of impartiality, as Police and Crime Commissioners can still stand as local Councillors. We can also understand the argument that it has been the first year and it will take them, and the new panels, time for this to bed down however this is all taxpayers money and they need to show not only value for money but also how to handle the challenges that they have been facing. PCC arrangements in Cardiff In South Wales, the PCC elected was Alun Michael, the previous MP. Michael became an MP in the 1987 general election. He has also served as the Secretary of Wales, the leader of Welsh Labour, and as a member of the Welsh Assembly in Mid and West Wales 13. In 2012 Michael was chosen as the Labour Party candidate for the PCC election for South Wales and announced in November 2012 as the winner of the first election for Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales. South Wales is the most densely populated area in the South West of the United Kingdom. It is home to 2.2 million people and there was a 15 per cent turn out rate for voting in these elections 14. As part of their job, PCCs are requited to pledge and oath to represent all sections of the public without fear or favour to enshrine the notion of impartiality in their work. At the beginning of their four years in office, PCCs must release a report detailing their four year anti 13 Michael, Alun. (2011). About Alun. Available: http://www.alunmichael.com/. Last accessed 04 Dec 2013. 14 WalesOnline. (2012). what went wrong with police vote?. Available: Wales elects its four police commissioners in election marred by low turnout.
crime plan. Alun Michael has listed violence against women and girls 15 as one of his main priorities along with work against reoffending and specifically young people reoffending 16. In the summer of 2013, a stop and search consultation took place in Riverside, central Cardiff. A total of 24 participants took place from a variety of different backgrounds, with the vast majority coming from Black and Minority Ethnic groups 17. It found that black people were stopped and searched at a rate of 3.3 times that of white people across South Wales 18. Asian people are 0.9 per cent more likely to be stopped and searched than their white counterparts, whereas mixed race people were 1 per cent more likely to be stopped 19. Those of a Somali and Yemeni background were overall more likely to be stopped and searched. Eight per cent of stop and searches lead to an arrest 20. Overall, those involved disagreed stop and search was effective in detecting crime 21 and believed that the local community should have direct involvement in deciding how the police carry out stop and search. Michael s report made little mention of community safety issues generally, specifically with regard to the VCS sector. South Wales Police is looking at reducing stop and search in terms of young people, but not with regards to ethnicity. This is not the first time South Wales Police have had a blind spot concerning race. On Valentine s Day, 1988, a 20 year old sex worker called Lynette White was killed in a sexually motivated stabbing in South Cardiff Docklands 22, modern day Cardiff Bay and Alun Michael s then-constituency. Witnesses report seeing a blonde-haired, blue-eyed man running from the scene of the crime on James Street, yet went on to charge five mixed-race men (known as the Cardiff Five ) with Lynette s 15 Michael, Alun. (2012). Annual Report 2013-2014. Available: http://www.southwalescommissioner.org.uk/document-library/2012---2013-annual-report.pdf. 16 Ibid. 17 Neena Samota. (2013). Cardiff stop and search engagement report.available: http://www.bteg.co.uk/index.php/downloads/bame-cjs-network/stop-and-search- Reports/Cardiff-Stop-and-Search-Report/Download.html. 18 Ibid 19 Ibid 20 Ibid 22 Bull, Ray,Bilby, Charlotte, Cooke, Claire. (2011). Policing. In: Criminal Psychology: A Beginner's Guide. 3rd ed. London: Oneword publications. p20.
murder. After the longest murder trial in British history 23, three were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. Years later, all of their convictions were quashed by the court of appeal and their convictions described as a miscarriage of justice. In 2003, a DNA sample found a partial match allowing them to identify the real killer as Jeffrey Gafoor, who confessed to White s murder, receiving a more lenient sentence 24 than the Cardiff Three. Serious questions and issues were asked over the case from Reverend Al Sharpton to solicitor Gareth Peirce to even current PCC Alun Michael, just a few names among their throngs of supporters to this controversial case in the small city of Cardiff. In 2009 the Crown Prosecution Service found that there was sufficient evidence to prosecute a total of 13 former and current police officers on conspiracy to pervert the course of justice 25. Costing 30 million pounds - the largest police corruption trial in history 26 - the judge threw out the case based on irregularities in the criminal disclosure process, owing to four missing files that were destroyed 27. 23 Sekar, S (2012). The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt. Hook, Hampshire: Waterside Press Limited. p30. 24 Sekar, S (2012). The Cardiff Five: Innocent Beyond Any Doubt. Hook, Hampshire: Waterside Press Limited. p30. 25 BBC Wales. (2011). Lynette White: How Cardiff murder began long legal saga. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-15965316. 26 Israel, S. (2013). No Lynette White inquiry into South Wales police. Available: http://www.channel4.com/news/lynette-white-murder-south-wales-police-cardiff-three. Last accessed 02 Dec 2013. 27 BBC Wales. (2013). Lynette White corruption trial 'errors but no wrong doing'. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-23329952.
The evidence was later found in a Cardiff police station 28 but Alun Michael described the documents as not being of central importance which is interesting, seeing as several ex and current police officers were would be embroiled and (probably) convicted. Theresa May has since said that she will not hold a public inquiry into this particular miscarriage of justice, with a High Court challenge expected in the New Year from a lawyer representing one of the Cardiff Three 29. Alun Michael has recently entered into discussion with young people on The Sprout, a youth-led online magazine. Each month he ll intends to enter into a discussion over an issue and young people are free to leave their comments in the comment box. He says his priorities are diversity, equality and developing a joint approach to the 18-25 age group, despite the fact that there is little mentioned in his crime plan for the next five years. Perhaps the young people on the website will be asking some more questions - not just about accountability and equality, but why race (among many other things) has been left off the agenda in South Wales. As the first year anniversary passes by of PCCs, it is worth digging deeper for answers on not only value for money and crime plans, of equality and diversity, but also why race has specifically been left off the agenda in the region, and the silence from Michael on justice for the Cardiff Three, despite a focus on justice in his crime report. Summary & Recommendations What does all this mean from an ideological point of view? Having a large number of ex-police officers and police authority members in positions of power may be a useful bulwark at a time where the police nationally (Plebgate etc) are under attack. In this context however have they been able to hold their Chief Constables to account when needed and challenge any corruption and criminal behaviour in the police ranks? This also means standing up to the likes of the Police Federation. The true litmus test is if you know the name of you own Police and Crime Commissioner. If you do - then well done but a year on the vast majority of the population are clueless to their identity and the new arrangements. But for many Asian, African and African Caribbean people and refugee communities and increasingly for the diverse Muslim communities in the UK issues around policing and accountability are a burning issue. The fact that these new arrangements lack transparency and a way to hold Chief Constables and policing decisions to account directly is deeply worrying for those of us involved on the ground with our communities. 28 Ibid 29 BBC Wales. (2013). No public inquiry into Lynette White police corruption case. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-24299882. Last accessed 04 Dec 2013.
We recommend: More PCCs with specialist experience of race and inequality particularly in regards to stop and search and complaint processes against police officers as we have noted in West Yorkshire recently. Reviewing how PCC s engage with their constituency and local communities. To make themselves and the police force they are responsible for more accountable. This is particularly needed given the poor turnout and the lack of mandate. That there is more transparency and equity around partnership, commissioning arrangements and expenditure. BME VCS groups need to be more pro-active and strategic in their interventions and align with others to do so. Saqib Deshmukh, Development Officer Yasmin Begum, Intern Voice4Change England
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