The police force in the United Kingdom has come under fire in recent years over race relations and the police. There have been numerous suggestions of a police force that is institutionally racist and closed to the multi cultural nature of the modern UK. But what are the police like when it comes to race relations and is the force geared towards the society in which we live?
Let's start with the police employment process. The police force aims to match its officers to the local community in terms of its racial demographics. This means that the local communities will be able to relate to their police officers. This improves communication between the police and local residents.
The police recruitment system operates a system of positive actions to encourage more applicants from ethnic diversities. This is to bring the number of non white and non Christian officers up to match local demographics. Police forces in the United Kingdom are becoming increasingly more and more diverse. This means that race relations and the police are getting far stronger each year.
Even though it will take a long time to fully modernise the police force in terms of its racial composition, a large amount of progress is being made and there is a clear difference. The work done over the past decade is phenomenal and the improvement is clear to see.
New codes of practice for dealing with racist crimes have been introduced which outline how the crime is to be recorded, how victims are to be treated and how various agencies are to interact with each other in order to diminish racial crime.
All new police officers and administrative staff are trained to speak to various members of the public. This includes those from racially diverse backgrounds. Community integration is encouraged and new recruits meet members of other ethnic communities to discuss how they can interact more effectively.
When race relations and the police take a turn for the worse, there is the newly established Independent Police Complaints Commission. It was set up in 2004 in order to investigate complaints made about the police of a racist nature and to act in a fair and impartial manner. This involves absolutely no favouritism at all towards the police force or any of its officers.
All police officers are forbidden from becoming a member of the national front, British national party or combat 18. This is to ensure their attitudes towards those of a different ethnic background are not put at risk from police officers with tainted views due to political organisation affiliation.
Race relations and the police have made the headlines; as has the increasingly multicultural nature of our society. For this reason, police forces are now more able to deal with ethnically diverse communities than ever before. The situation is improving and the police force has become stronger and more effective as a result. Even though they can never match the population exactly, communication is still getting better.
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