IOPC publishes package of race discrimination tools to support policing

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has today issued revised guidelines to improve the handling of discrimination complaints as well as highlighting how the police service needs to take immediate steps to safeguard children from adultification during their interactions.

They are part of a package of support for policing to assist the drive for further change and are the culmination of more than three years' of IOPC focused work on race discrimination with over 300 cases analysed.

Integral to the work is the publication of a race discrimination report which highlights how the police need to investigate discrimination allegations properly to ensure they are effectively handled first time so people can have confidence in the police complaints system.  

In the report, the IOPC calls for ‘focused and measurable change’ to remove racial disparities in the use of police powers including stop and search, use of force, strip searches, particularly on children, with more safeguards to prevent adultification bias and ensure fair treatment. 

Director General Rachel Watson said: “We recognise the commitment across policing to improve the way it handles race discrimination and have seen good progress in some areas including complaint handling - but a lot more needs to be done. 

“Too often Black communities feel over-policed as suspects and under-protected. We want to support the police to improve how they deal with race discrimination, to ensure that everyone can have trust and confidence in policing. 
‘We welcome the Police Race Action Plan and believe our report will help improve the service they're providing to all communities."

The issue of adultification bias is highlighted in the report - a form of bias where children from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities are perceived as being more ‘streetwise’, more ‘grown up’, less innocent and less vulnerable than other children. 

The IOPC is calling for urgent steps to be taken to safeguard children from adultification during police interactions. We found cases involving stop and search or use of force where officers assumed that a child was older than they were and did not apply appropriate safeguards. It is crucial that officers and staff understand how adultification can influence decision making leading to unjust treatment of children

The race discrimination work involved independently investigating more cases where racial discrimination may have been a factor, reviewing police handling of relevant complaints and engagement with stakeholders - to develop a body of evidence to identify systemic issues which should be addressed.