When I spoke out on Tuesday morning about the appalling murder of Henry Nowak and how he was treated by the police, I was making the point that police forces have become obsessed with DEI and with not treating everybody equally - treating people differently if they are white, rather than from minority ethnic groups.
One thing I did achieve was to break the wall of silence. Until I intervened, we did not see senior political figures speaking up in outrage about what had happened to Henry. And my posts on social media were watched by tens of millions of people. But it would seem that politicians and the mainstream media still haven’t quite got the message.
So let’s be clear. The ‘Anti-Racism Commitment’ produced by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council last year makes it explicit that, when dealing with policing issues, it does not mean ‘treating everyone “the same” or being “colourblind”’. In other words, the police are told to act differently with different ethnic groups.
In Henry Nowak’s case, we are talking about Hampshire Police. The document in question is the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary Race Action Plan, brought in while Priti Patel was Conservative Home Secretary. The police are being told that they must deal with ethnic minorities in a preferential way over white people. And the biggest fear the police have is that they themselves will be accused of acting in a racist manner. That does not excuse the behaviour of those police officers who handcuffed and arrested Henry on suspicion of racism as he lay dying, but perhaps helps to explain.
I’ve had so many emails from serving and former police officers about the indoctrination they are currently receiving. Here is just one, from a man who has served with the police force for a very long time. He wrote to me:
“I’ve recently been made to take compulsory race training, where I was told of my white privilege and that I work in an institutionally racist organisation. I was made to learn about black and South Asian history. Equity and preaching speeches from activist speakers filled the next two-hour training session.”
They are making police officers terrified of applying the law equally. And it doesn’t matter that the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, insists the police treat everybody equally. From the very top of the police all the way down to the way officers are given race training, they are being told to treat people in this country differently.
On Tuesday night, thousands of people gathered outside the police station in Southampton. You will get political commentators and other parties saying that I’ve stirred up this problem. Of course, they always do that. They don’t want to address the issue.
But I will make this prediction: if we don’t end two-tier policing in this country, we will turn millions of ordinary, law-abiding citizens against the police and against the authorities. I want us to stop and dampen down anger and strife on our streets.
From the Prime Minister down, we need absolute assurance that this nonsense about treating different communities of different ethnic backgrounds in different ways is going to end. We must end two-tier policing.
One thing I did achieve was to break the wall of silence. Until I intervened, we did not see senior political figures speaking up in outrage about what had happened to Henry. And my posts on social media were watched by tens of millions of people. But it would seem that politicians and the mainstream media still haven’t quite got the message.
So let’s be clear. The ‘Anti-Racism Commitment’ produced by the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council last year makes it explicit that, when dealing with policing issues, it does not mean ‘treating everyone “the same” or being “colourblind”’. In other words, the police are told to act differently with different ethnic groups.
In Henry Nowak’s case, we are talking about Hampshire Police. The document in question is the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary Race Action Plan, brought in while Priti Patel was Conservative Home Secretary. The police are being told that they must deal with ethnic minorities in a preferential way over white people. And the biggest fear the police have is that they themselves will be accused of acting in a racist manner. That does not excuse the behaviour of those police officers who handcuffed and arrested Henry on suspicion of racism as he lay dying, but perhaps helps to explain.
I’ve had so many emails from serving and former police officers about the indoctrination they are currently receiving. Here is just one, from a man who has served with the police force for a very long time. He wrote to me:
“I’ve recently been made to take compulsory race training, where I was told of my white privilege and that I work in an institutionally racist organisation. I was made to learn about black and South Asian history. Equity and preaching speeches from activist speakers filled the next two-hour training session.”
They are making police officers terrified of applying the law equally. And it doesn’t matter that the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, insists the police treat everybody equally. From the very top of the police all the way down to the way officers are given race training, they are being told to treat people in this country differently.
On Tuesday night, thousands of people gathered outside the police station in Southampton. You will get political commentators and other parties saying that I’ve stirred up this problem. Of course, they always do that. They don’t want to address the issue.
But I will make this prediction: if we don’t end two-tier policing in this country, we will turn millions of ordinary, law-abiding citizens against the police and against the authorities. I want us to stop and dampen down anger and strife on our streets.
From the Prime Minister down, we need absolute assurance that this nonsense about treating different communities of different ethnic backgrounds in different ways is going to end. We must end two-tier policing.
