Secrets of the Police: Channel 4 Dispatches

16 June 2014

 

Just 1% of allegations of racism by members of the public against the police in England and Wales were upheld over an eight year period, an investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches reveals.

‘Plebgate’, the undercover police scandal and Hillsborough have made many in Britain question the honesty and integrity of some of our police officers.

Tonight, Secrets of the Police: Channel 4 Dispatches (Monday 16th June at 8pm) investigates how they handle one of the most sensitive areas of policing – complaints of police racism.

The programme found:

• Three police forces upheld no allegation of racism made against officers, including Greater Manchester Police, North Yorkshire Police and Lancashire Constabulary
• 43 police officers had four allegations of racism against them and 16 officers had five or more. Not one of the officers was sanctioned
• Some police forces paid out even when allegations of racism complaints were not upheld. For example, between 2008 and 2012 the Metropolitan Police paid out in 45 cases even though they only upheld 13 allegations of racism over the same period
• A police officer labelled racist by a judge in a civil court in 2003 is still working for the Metropolitan Police – we interview the victim who is disgusted to learn that the PC is still working

Dispatches reporter and former Paralympian, Ade Adepitan, was himself repeatedly stopped by police as a young man. He meets several people who have made complaints about police racism and feel they’ve been let down, including a man beaten and allegedly racially abused who received a pay-out from the police but no apology.

 

Ade also met Stuart Lawrence, brother of Stephen Lawrence, who says his complaint of racial discrimination was upheld by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, only to be dismissed by the police themselves.

 

Exclusive figures: What happens when people complain about racism by the police

Channel 4 Dispatches submitted hundreds of Freedom of Information requests to all police forces in England and Wales and can reveal for the first time what really happens when people complain about racism by the police:

• In total only 77 out of 7963 allegations were upheld nationwide (0.97%) between 2005 and 2012.
• Three police forces upheld no allegation of racism made against officers, including Greater Manchester Police, North Yorkshire Police and Lancashire Constabulary.
• The Metropolitan Police Service upheld 20 out of 4,730 allegations of racism made against officers between 2005 and 2012 (0.4%)
• Greater Manchester Police upheld 0 out of 519 allegations of racism made against officers (0%)
• West Midlands Police upheld 3 out of 345 allegations of racism made against officers between 2008 and 2012 (0.87%)
• Devon and Cornwall Police upheld 6 out of 58 allegations of racism made against officers between 2008 and 2012 (10.3%)
• North Yorkshire Police upheld 0 out of 56 allegations of racism made against officers (0%)
• Norfolk Constabulary upheld 2 out of 98 allegations of racism made against officers (2.04%)
• Lancashire Constabulary upheld 0 out of 127 allegations of racism made against officers (0%)
• Kent Police upheld 5 out of 147 allegations of racism made against officers (3.4%)
• South Wales Police upheld 0 out of 108 allegations of racism made against officers between 2006 and 2012 (0%)

*Unless otherwise stated all figures relate to the period 2005 and  2012 inclusive

**figures for other polices forces can be obtained on request

When asked why they had upheld no allegations of racism, Greater Manchester Police said that they had recently upheld two complaints. They said: “…there are very clear improvements that need to be made and this will now happen.”

Just last month, Theresa May MP Home Secretary gave her view on how the police should deal with misconduct. “It’s not enough to mouth platitudes about a few bad apples,” she says.  “The problem might lie with a minority of officers, but it is still a significant problem, and a problem that needs to be addressed.”

Dispatches showed our Freedom of Information findings to Dame Anne Owers, Chair, Independent Police Complaints Commission. 

When asked if she thought these figures meant that these police forces no longer had a problem with racism, she replies:  “Common sense would tell you that that’s, that’s not the case. “ 

“What we’ve found when we’ve dug into the way that forces handle complaints of race discrimination and indeed discrimination in general is that they don’t do it well and the evidence seems to be that those complaints are less likely to be upheld than other kinds of complaints,” she adds. 

Police officers complained about repeatedly

So how common is it for individual police officers to be complained about repeatedly?

The investigation found 43 officers had four allegations and 16 officers had five or more allegations of racism against them. Not one of the officers was sanctioned.

When asked if she thought that a minority of racist officers are not being weeded out, Dame Anne Owers, Chair says: “I think there must be a risk given that we know that complaints of discrimination are not being dealt with as robustly as they should.”

Matthew Ryder QC at Matrix Chambers says:  “The real worry that these figures throw up is that if there are officers who are consistently having complaints made against them and those complaints are not being upheld, and there is such a low number of complaints across the board that are upheld, then is there a danger of a culture of impunity being created?”

Pay out even when racism complaints not upheld

The investigation found that some police forces paid out even when allegations of racism complaints were not upheld, with 25 police forces having upheld 42 allegations of racism against police officers. But paid out 52 times.   

45 of those were by the Metropolitan police, even though they only upheld 13 allegations of racism.

Matthew Ryder QC says: “Either the police are paying out on complaints that are unmeritorious and wouldn’t result in a finding, or alternatively the complaints system is not making findings against police officers in circumstances where the police know a court would.

“If it’s the second reason and many of us think it may well be, then something’s going wrong with the complaints system.”

Channel 4 Dispatches asked the Met why they had paid out almost four times as often as they upheld complaints.

Metropolitan Police say: 

“We will defend our position but out of court settlements with no admission of liability will also form part of the consideration in order to avoid costly litigation. Where we believe we, or one of our officers, has been in the wrong we will accept responsibility and take appropriate action.”

All the forces we spoke to said they take allegations of racial discrimination by officers seriously.

Chief Constable Mike Cunningham, Association of Chief Police Officers says: “There is no place for racism in the police service…That is fundamental requirement of being a member of the British Police Service and if an officer falls short of those high expectations in some cases immediately they ought to be dismissed…. In other cases depending on the circumstances they might need other action to be taken against them to help them improve the way that they deliver services in the future.”

Recommendations state that racism by officers should usually result in their dismissal.

Case Study: Police officer labelled racist by a judge is still working

However, Channel 4 Dispatches discovered that a police officer labelled racist by a judge in a civil court in 2003 is still working for the Metropolitan Police.

The judge described the abuse of Sylbert Farquharson by PC Kevin Bridgeman and another PC as ‘vicious and cowardly’. 

The judge said: “He was subjected to explicit racist abuse in the street and a particularly vicious and cowardly form of racist abuse at the police station.”

An internal investigation was conducted by another police force - Greater Manchester Police.  It found no evidence of racial abuse by PC Kevin Bridgeman. And he denied all the allegations.

But when the Independent Police Complaints Commission told the Metropolitan Police to conduct disciplinary proceedings against him, the Met found he had committed no wrongdoing. 

In fact, Channel 4 Dispatches found PC Kevin Bridgeman is still employed by the Metropolitan Police today.

The Metropolitan Police told the programme:  

“The matter has been thoroughly investigated and the allegation of racism was not substantiated against the officer…”

“The officer has since been returned to full duties.”

The Met would not release the internal investigation, citing statutory regulations nor confirm the identity of the officers.

PC Bridgeman did not wish to comment.

The victim in this case was Sylbert Farquharson.  In an exclusive interview with Ade Adepitan he explained what he went through and his disgust at hearing that PC Bridgeman was still working for the police. 

Mr Farquharson, at 58 years old, was awarded damages of a quarter of a million pounds for assault, wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution at the hands of five white officers

Mr Farquharson was driving past shops in south London, in 1995, when he saw his cousin being arrested.  He stopped to speak to the officers involved.

 “They grabbed me and pushed me up against the wall somewhere there y’know…And then while he have me against the wall….”, he says 

“I look around and I see the uniform officer aiming for my head with his baton…they picked me up in the air and throw me to the floor, 

“No I couldn’t  [fight] I couldn’t, the only thing I was fighting for was to breathe you know because they weren’t giving me time to breathe …  the main one he had his knees up in my shoulders, the other one down in this area.” 

“I mean they was using the F word you know, black bastard…”

Mr Farquharson  had two sets of handcuffs placed on his wrists. These caused him permanent nerve damage.

He was taken to Brixton Police Station and along the way, his shoe fell off. 

According to statements in court, a PC Kevin Bridgeman told another officer to tie the shoe onto the back of Sylbert’s belt.

“Bridgeman, he said, oh he’s a fucking coon let’s give him a fucking tail that was his exact words… And they tied my shoe at the back of my loop and I had my shoe hanging.  So imagine that…. To give me a tail,” he says. 

Statement read outside court stated:  ‘Judge Dean has made a specific finding that these officers cannot be believed.  And that PC 232 Kevin Bridgeman and PC 430 Trevor Brown are vicious and cowardly racists.’

In the years following the court judgement, PC Trevor Brown resigned.

An internal investigation was conducted another police force - Greater Manchester Police.  It found no evidence of racial abuse by PC Kevin Bridgeman. And he denied all the allegations.

When the Independent Police Complaints Commission told the Metropolitan police to conduct disciplinary proceedings against him, the Met found he had committed no wrongdoing. 

On hearing that PC Bridgeman is still working for the police, Mr Farquharson  says: “Well that’s disgusting …  unacceptable That was very frightening, y’know. Very frightening.”

Ade Adepitan own experience of police stop and search

Ade Adepitan, was himself repeatedly stopped by police as a young man living in East London. 

Speaking on location during the filming of the programme, Ade says:  “Since the Olympics I’ve become pretty well known. But growing up in East London, I was a young black man with a nice little car - adapted for my needs.”

“Now I used to live down there just a couple of roads away.  And I used to get stopped and searched in my car by the police so often that I’d play this game and that was to see if I could make it to basketball training without being stopped and a lot of the times I lost ‘cos I’ve been stopped on this road and I’ve been stopped on all the roads surrounding here pretty regularly.”

Notes to Editors

Secrets of the Police: Channel 4 Dispatches, Monday 16th June at 8pm