The Times - UK (2022-05-24)

the times | Tuesday May 24 2022 21

News

Police officers will be taught black his-

tory in an effort to curb racism within

their ranks after the head of a new scru-

tiny board urged them to embrace the

label “woke”.

New mandatory training will cover

the history of policing black communi-

ties and disproportionality in arrests,

use of force and other indicators of dis-

parity, police chiefs said in a report re-

leased yesterday.

Abimbola Johnson, a barrister and

chairwoman of the scrutiny panel that

will hold forces to account, expressed

her disappointment as two chief offi-

cers refused to say whether policing

was institutionally racist at its launch.

Johnson, who was appointed after

Black Lives Matter demonstrations in

Britain in 2020, said that officers should

be comfortable with being called woke.

“Woke is used as a negative word —

it’s not,” she said yesterday. “Being woke

just means being alert to injustice in

society and in this particular scenario it

also means around racism. So first of all

if this plan is labelled as woke it means

it’s heading in the right direction.

“I want to see a de-escalation in reac-

tions to labels like woke — I want to see

policing thinking about what that defi-

nition actually means. I don’t really see

how you can be anti-racist and not be

comfortable with that terminology.”

Andy Marsh, head of the College of

Policing, and Sir Dave Thompson, chief

constable of West Midlands, the senior

Be woke, police told in drive

to beat unconscious biases

John Simpson Crime Correspondent officer responsible for the project, were

asked whether policing was institution-

ally racist, but refused to give a defini-

tive answer.

Johnson said that the report con-

tained a “very soft definition” of the

term, adding: “It says it [racism] could

be unwitting. You could be a police offi-

cer following every single rule and do-

ing everything right but unfortunately

because the system is inadequate, you

will replicate racism unless you con-

sciously do something about that.”

She added: “It’s not for policing to say

whether it’s institutionally racist — it

has been found to be.”

Asked for details of the new training,

the National Police Chiefs’ Council said

it was “committed to increasing the

awareness of every officer and member

of staff of racism, anti-racism, black his-

tory and its connection to policing

through introduction of a mandatory

programme of training”.

The plan “sets out the intention” and

the detail would be “scoped over the

next six months alongside the scrutiny

process”, the organisation said.

Senior officers insisted it was time for

policing to become an “institutionally

anti-racist organisation” and said the

need for change was evident because it

“lags behind almost every part of the

public service as an employer of choice

for black people”. They said the fact that

only two black officers had reached the

rank of chief constable or assistant

commissioner was a “failure”.

In a foreword to the police race

action plan, Marsh and Thompson said

that the murder of George Floyd in

America had provided a “catalyst for

the expression of deep concerns about

the social injustice experienced by

black people”, and that policing had a

“difficult history in its relationships

with black communities”.

They wrote: “We accept that policing

still contains racism, discrimination

and bias. We are ashamed of those

truths, we apologise for them and we

are determined to change them. We

hope that, in the future, we will be seen

as the institutionally anti-racist organi-

sation we want to be, because we took

action and delivered on our promise.”

Chief constables will be called on to

address disproportionality in the use of

force, Tasers and stop and search, par-

ticularly involving drugs or checks on

children. Black community groups are

to be offered the opportunity to be

more involved in the oversight of polic-

ing, as well as plans to improve the ser-

vice to black victims of crime.

Sir William Macpherson’s report in

1999 into the murder of Stephen Law-

rence found the Metropolitan Police to

be institutionally racist.

Ex-Met chief

‘unfit to lead

crime agency’

Fiona Hamilton Crime Editor

Victims of Scotland Yard’s bungled

child abuse investigation reacted in

anger yesterday after learning that the

man who had been in charge could be

given one of the most prestigious roles

in law enforcement.

Lady Brittan, whose late husband’s

reputation was traduced by Operation

Midland detectives who believed false

allegations about a VIP abuse ring, was

among those warning that Lord

Hogan-Howe was unfit to lead the

National Crime Agency (NCA).

The government reopened recruit-

ment for the role because Boris John-

son was unhappy that Hogan-Howe

had been overlooked.

Lady Brittan, the widow of Lord

Brittan of Spennithorne, the former

home secretary, said: “There is little

evidence that [Hogan-Howe] is a suita-

ble candidate for this role.”

Harvey Proctor, the former Tory MP

who was also falsely accused, wrote to

Johnson urging him not to appoint Ho-

gan-Howe. The letter was supported by

the family of the late Lord Bramall, the

war hero who was also falsely accused.

Yesterday senior policing leaders said

they were shocked at the political inter-

vention. One said it was “utterly in-

appropriate” given the appointment

process was supposed to be independ-

ent. They were also concerned about

reputational damage to the NCA given

that Hogan-Howe was forced to apolo-

gise over Operation Midland.

Anti-racism

group offers

legal hotline

James Beal Social Affairs Editor

A new national civil rights organisation
is to offer a hotline providing legal
advice to victims of racism.
The Black Equity Organisation,
which starts work today, has been
created by black leaders in business,
law, the arts and social justice. It will
focus on six areas: economic empower-
ment, education, health, racial discrim-
ination, representation and housing.
Dame Vivian Hunt, chairwoman of
the trustees, said that the organisation
would offer an “access to justice” hot-
line in its first year, giving legal advice
and support on civil rights. It has
already put a lawyer in touch with the
family of Raheem Bailey, the 11-year-
old schoolboy from south Wales who
lost a finger escaping racist bullies.
Hunt told The Times: “The purpose of
the access to justice hotline will be to
provide high-quality legal advice and
representation on issues related to anti-
racism. It will also be available for any
other topic where black families, or
other people who have questions, need
support. We will route them to the right
resources and capabilities.”
Other creators of the new organisa-
tion include David Lammy, the shadow
foreign secretary, and the history
professor David Olusoga.
Hunt, managing partner for the con-
sulting firm McKinsey, said that the
organisation would also launch strate-
gic litigation to fight structural racism
through the courts.

Abimbola Johnson

said that officers

had to consciously

avoid racism

Ne

T

he first call

starts in the

dark, a lone

jackdaw cawing

in the gloom.

By the time the sun

breaches the horizon

there is a cacophony

from hundreds of birds

roosting in the trees.

Then, as if as one, the

flock takes flight (Tom

Whipple writes).

For those who get up

early enough in the

winter the morning

routine of a jackdaw

flock is a familiar sight

and sound. How, though,

do the jackdaws

synchronise so well?

The answer, a

study found, is

that they vote,

using their calls.

Alex Thornton,

professor of

cognitive evolution

at Exeter University,

said: “You go from

thousands of birds

sitting there in the trees

to no birds, in the space

of a couple of seconds.

It’s really dramatic.”

It was unclear how the

birds could co-ordinate.

“It’s very difficult for one

individual on one side of

the roost to see what’s

happening on the other,”

Thornton said. “It’s also

worth remembering that

this is early morning

during the winter: it’s

pretty dark.” That made

him think that maybe

the calls were the

clue. “Visual

information in the

morning is pretty

limited but sound travels

well.” For a paper in the

journal Current Biology,

he and a colleague

placed recording devices

around roosts in

Cornwall. They found

that calling intensity

increased in the hour

before take-off. Then,

most of the time, when

the same level of

decibels was reached the

flock took off. They also

found that if they played

their own recording of

jackdaw calls they could

trick the birds into flying

six and a half minutes

earlier.

It is unclear why they

would want to take off

together, although it

could be to do with

overwhelming

predators. Neither is it

completely clear what

the mechanism is,

whether they go at a set

volume or whether once

a set volume is reached

they are alert to the

slightest movement in

their neighbour. What is

clear, says Thornton, is

that it is worth getting

up early for. “The nice

thing is that there are

jackdaw roosts all over

the place. It’s really,

really quite a

spectacular thing to

witness. You have this

sudden build-up of

intensity of these calls.

And then from one

second to the next, the

sky just fills with black

birds. It’s almost like a

black snowstorm.”

Jackdaws are efficient in

taking collective decisions,

leading article, page 29

Jackdaws

vote to

take wing

together

ALAMY

Roosting jackdaws

typically take off

together, with the

birds apparently

using calls to co-

ordinate their flight