§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the police response to crimes with a racial element. [69134]
§ Mr. BoatengSeveral assessments have been made recently of this vital area of policing.
The Home Office Police Research Group's report "Policing Racially Motivated Incidents", published in November 1997, found variations in recording and processing procedures between forces, difficulties in applying the concept of racial motivation and poor understanding of relevant legislation. Of the cases where there was potential for further action, only just over a third resulted in a charge or caution.
The thematic report of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) on police/community and race relations, "Winning the Race", which was published in October 1997, also registered concerns about levels of awareness within forces of what constituted a racial incident, about recording practices and procedures and about the quality of the police response to racial incidents. HMIC are currently completing their report of a follow-up inspection to assess progress.
517WFindings from the British Crime Survey published in April 1998—"Ethnicity and Victimisation: Findings from the 1996 British Crime Survey"—showed a considerable gap between crime incidents perceived to be racially motivated by victims and the number of incidents recorded by the police. While various factors mean that an exact match between the two sets of figures could not be expected, under-recording by the police appears to be a significant factor.
The Association of Chief Police Officers issued a good practice guide on the police response to racial incidents in April 1998 responding to those concerns and have set up a working group to consider further improvements, including standardising core recording requirements. A protocol has been agreed with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure consistency in identifying cases with a racial motivation. We welcome the setting up of the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force in the Metropolitan Police Service.
The report of the Inquiry into matters arising from the death of Stephen Lawrence is expected shortly. The Inquiry's terms of reference require it to identify the lessons to be learned from the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crime. We expect the Inquiry's report to provide a clear guide to further progress.
518W
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