70 allegations of police racism investigated

POLICE in Leicestershire have been investigated over allegations of racism more than 70 times over the past four years.

Figures released following a Freedom of Information request show that the police force launched a total of 76 investigations following complaints that officers acted in a racist manner between 2014 and 2017.

This included nine complaints investigated in 2017 alone.

Most of these led to no further action being taken - 47 over the period, including five in 2017.

However, three cases over the period, all in 2015, were serious enough

that they led to officers being dis- missed without notice. All involved racist comments.

There were also four cases over the period that led to management action, where a manager will take non-disciplinary action to try to show the officer where their behaviour fell short of professional standards and to try and improve future conduct and 15 that were dealt with by a local resolution, where the complainant may be offered an explanation or apology for the behaviour Across Britain, 5,028 allegations of racism were dealt with by police forces between 2014 and 2017.

Generally, the number of complaints has been falling, from 1,393 in 2014 to 1,127 in 2017.

Most cases were either not upheld, discontinued or led to no further action.

However, 18 officers over the period were dismissed without notice because of complaints about racism.

Between 2014 and 2017, 41 officers were given written warnings following investigations. Two officers under investigation resigned or retired.

Over the period, 137 officers were dealt with by management action, where a manager talks to them about their behaviour, or a local resolution, where the complainant may be offered an explanation or apology for the behaviour.

At the time of the FOI request, 95 investigations were still ongoing.