MORNING SERIAL
THE 2017 Report of the Independent Review of Deaths and Serious Incidents in Police Custody found that use of restraint was more prevalent in cases of BAME individuals who have died in police custody than in deaths of white people. The report also found evidence to suggest that dangerous restraint techniques and excessive force are disproportionately used on BAME people as well as the fact that in 2014-15 people who identified themselves as black or black British were three times more likely to be arrested for notifiable offences than those who identified as white.
Stop and search stats are not better. In England and Wales between April 2018 and March 2019, there were four stop and searches for every 1,000 white people, compared with 38 for every 1,000 black people. The divide is clear when you look specifically at Welsh police forces. Dyfed Powys has a rate of five per 1,000 white people compared to 40 for black people. South Wales is seven white compared to 42 black. Gwent is three white compared to 25 black. North Wales is three white compared to nine black.
This is not to say that progress has not been made, not just in the police, but also in society generally. In his independent review into the treatment of and outcomes for BAME individuals in the criminal justice system, MP David Lammy said: “It is true that, in wider society, overt racial prejudice is declining. For example, the proportion of people who say that they would mind if a relative married someone from a West Indian or Asian background has fallen significantly over the last two decades. It is also the case that younger generations, who have grown up in a more diverse country, report lower levels of prejudice than their parents and grandparents’ generation. Social norms are changing.”
However he adds: “Nevertheless, some prejudice that was overt is now covert. A recent study in the US found one particular racial slur against African-Americans is searched for on Google seven million times a year.
Lockdown Wales by Will Hayward £9.99 www.serenbooks.com/ productdisplay/lockdown-wales ISBN 9781781726013