Police contact with a woman that resulted in an allegation of racial profiling and discriminatory conduct – West Midlands Police, February 2019
On 11 February 2019, a woman was stopped in her vehicle by two West Midlands Police officers in Handsworth.
The woman alleges that the officers originally told her they had stopped her because of recent carjacking’s in the area and as she was driving an expensive car, they stopped her. The woman suggests that her stop was stemmed from racial profiling and discrimination by the officers because she is a Black woman, driving an expensive car in the Handsworth area. It is also alleged that both officers made a comment that appeared to stereotype Black people.
When she challenged this with the officers, she alleges that the officers’ behaviour was unprofessional, inappropriate, and intimidating. The woman alleges that the officers proceeded to accuse and caution her for not stopping at a red light, which she claims was not the case. The traffic light offence proceeded to court. The woman received court papers regarding the offence which included a statement from one of the officers. She alleges that this statement contains information which is not correct.
The woman pleaded guilty to the traffic offence, but stated she only did this because she felt she could not go through the court ordeal due to her anxieties and mental health.
During our investigation, we examined several pieces of evidence from West Midlands Police including body worn video footage, the officer’s training and disciplinary records, and court papers. A CCTV trawl was also conducted, but due to the time lapse, could not be obtained. We obtained witness accounts and conducted misconduct interviews with the subjects in the investigation.
Our investigation was completed in March 2020, but we waited for all external proceedings to be complete before publishing our findings. We were of the opinion that one police officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct. We advised this should be in the form of a misconduct hearing. This took place in June 2021 where the findings determined the officer had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Equality and Diversity, Authority, Respect and Courtesy, and Discreditable Conduct. The officer had resigned from West Midlands Police prior to the misconduct hearing, but the Panel concluded it would have considered imposing a sanction less than dismissal.
We also concluded another police officer had a case to answer for misconduct and proceedings should be in the form of a misconduct meeting. This took place in January 2021 where the findings determined the officer had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of Authority, Respect and Courtesy, and Discreditable Conduct. The sanction was in the form of management advice.
During our investigation we considered if there were any opportunities to identify organisational learning. We issue learning recommendations to improve policing and reduce any recurrence of similar events. We did not identify any organisational learning from this investigation.