§ Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will invite the Commission for Racial Equality to examine whether the Metropolitan police is free of racism. [4357]
§ Mr. DenhamThere are no plans to invite the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) to undertake a formal investigation of the Metropolitan police at this time.
The CRE already works jointly in a number of areas with the police service both at a national level and with individual forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), to pursue the ministerial aim of
increasing trust and confidence in policing among minority ethnic communities".The MPS is currently implementing a number of initiatives both to improve the service which it provides to the minority ethnic communities which it serves, and 653W to improve the way in which it treats its own officers from minority ethnic backgrounds. Although there is some way still to go, the signs are that the position is improving.
The MPS, in common with other police forces, will be covered by the provisions of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.