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Real People. Real Harm. Real Change Needed.
Institutional racism in policing is not just a policy issue — it's a human one. It affects lives, families, and futures. Below are two powerful cases that expose the deep-rooted injustices in the UK's law enforcement system.
Stephen Lawrence
A National Wake-Up Call
In 1993, 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack while waiting for a bus in South London. The police response was riddled with failure: vital evidence was ignored, key witnesses were dismissed, and suspects were not properly investigated.
It wasn't until the publication of the Macpherson Report (1999) that the depth of the institutional failure was fully acknowledged. The report declared that the Metropolitan Police's handling of the case was shaped by "institutional racism" — a term that would come to define public discourse on race and policing in the UK.
The report proposed 70 recommendations, including reforms in stop-and-search powers, diversity recruitment, and accountability. Yet, over 25 years later, many of these recommendations remain only partially implemented — and racial injustice in policing continues.
Child Q
Strip-Searched at School
In 2020, a 15-year-old Black girl — publicly known as Child Q — was strip-searched by Metropolitan Police officers at her school in Hackney, East London. She was on her period. No responsible adult was present. No parental consent was given. No drugs were found.
An independent safeguarding report found that racism was "likely to have been an influencing factor" in how she was treated. The incident sparked widespread public outrage and raised urgent questions about how Black children — especially girls — are criminalised and dehumanised in schools and by the police. -Mccallum, R. and Gamble, J. (2022)
The trauma suffered by Child Q is not an isolated case. It reveals the wider pattern of systemic over-policing and under-protection faced by Black youth in the UK.
Mccallum, R. and Gamble, J. (2022). Local Child Safeguarding Practice Review. [online] Available at: https://chscp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Child-Q-PUBLISHED-14-March-22.pdf.
Must know statistics:
These statistics highlight the persistent inequalities and racial injustices within UK policing, underscoring the urgent need for reform.
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Black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than White people (Home Office, 2023).
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Black people are four times more likely to experience the use of force during police encounters than White people (UK Police Federation, 2021).
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Black people make up 27% of all deaths in police custody, despite constituting only 3.4% of the UK population (INQUEST, 2020).
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Only 47% of Black people in the UK report trusting the police, compared to 80% of White people (British Social Attitudes Survey, 2022).
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41% of Black men aged 16 to 24 have reported experiencing racial profiling (UK Civil Liberties Union, 2021).
These statistics illustrate the widespread and persistent racial disparities in policing, reinforcing the need for systemic change.
References:
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Home Office (2023). Police powers and procedures: Stop and search and arrests, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2023. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics
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UK Police Federation (2021). The Use of Force: Annual Report. Available at: https://www.polfed.org/
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INQUEST (2020). Deaths in Custody Statistics: 2012-2020. Available at: https://www.inquest.org.uk/
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British Social Attitudes Survey (2022). Public Trust in the Police. Available at: https://www.bsa.natcen.ac.uk/
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UK Civil Liberties Union (2021). Experiences of Racial Profiling. Available at: https://www.ukclu.org/