The Metropolitan Police have launched a plan to rebuilt trust with London’s black community after admitting they have been “let down” over a number of years.
The Race Action Plan will include plans to “reset” how stop and search should be carried out in London, designed with the help of black communities.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said “there remains a long way to go and there is a lot more work to do”, but added that the Race Action Plan is a step “in the right direction”.
Police can conduct a stop and search if they suspect a person could be carrying a weapon, drugs or stolen property but the tactic has proved controversial, with black people disproportionally more likely to be searched than white people.
The force will also seek to improve how it records and monitors the ethnicity of drivers when making vehicle stops, with external scrutiny for greater transparency.
The plan will also include an overhaul of the Met’s policy on intimate searches of children, to ensure “they only occur when necessary and proportionate”.
Tensions over stop and search have included the treatment of two black athletes, Team GB runner Bianca Williams and her partner, Portuguese sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos.
Two Met constables were sacked in October 2023 after after a disciplinary panel found their actions during a “highly distressing” stop and search amounted to gross misconduct.
Trust in the force was also damaged after a 15-year-old black girl – known as Child Q – was strip searched while on her period at her school in Hackney in 2020.
In a statement, the Met said it wanted to “better represent the communities we serve” and that it would recruit and retain a more diverse workforce.
All new recruits are being trained to understand the experience of black Londoners and other communities across the capital, according to the Met.
Disparities in the Met’s misconduct system are also being tackled, while new workshops to improve promotion rates have helped to raise pass rates for black officers from 68 per cent to 75 per cent since 2021.
Updates on the progress of the plan will be given twice yearly.
The aim is for the Met to become “a truly anti-racist and inclusive organisation,” according to Sir Mark.
He said: “Black Londoners have been let down by the Met over many years and while we continue to take steps in the right direction, there remains a long way to go and there is a lot more work to do.
“Action, not words, will rebuild trust in our service, so we must now remain focused on delivering real change that is seen and felt by our communities and our workforce.
“We are changing our systems, our processes, culture and our leadership. We are better understanding and acting on disproportionality wherever it exists.
“We are working more closely than ever with communities we’ve let down to build a service that delivers for all of London.
“To achieve this critical change once and for all will take time, but I am determined that we will continue to strengthen our relationship with black Londoners – whether that be members of the public or our own colleagues – and renew the principle of policing by consent.”
