Former Senior police officer seeks justice against the National Police Chiefs’ Council

The Employment Tribunal claim will shine a spotlight on the national Police Race Action Plan, which is crucial to improving policing for the Black community. It must not become another Institutionally Racist tool to be used against Black officers and staff and Black communities  

After the tragic and horrific murder of George Floyd junior and the emergence of #BlackLivesMatter, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) rightly decided to implement a national Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) to ensure that in future the Black communities’ experience of policing improved, and the structural Institutional Racism (IR) was challenged. 

In March 2023, Baroness Casey found that the Metropolitan Police were IR.   

I wanted to do my bit in ensuring that the PRAP was a solid and living plan which the Black communities bought into, and which would make a real tangible difference. I wanted the next generation of Black police officers and staff, the black communities we all serve to be valued, respected, listened to and heard and in addition not exposed to IR. 

I was the most senior Black officer to work on the PRAP. 

By way of background, I joined the police in 1993, shortly after the brutal racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. 

Growing up I experienced and witnessed racism, hatred, discrimination, and hostility displayed by the police towards myself, family and friends solely based upon the colour of our skin. 

Change was needed in policing. Policing needed someone like me amongst their ranks who could help policing change. I set about joining the police service, determined to drive change and help the police succeed in building better relationships with my community.

Throughout my career, I have always been an advocate for developing a police service that is fair and equitable to all. I never shied away from challenging racism and was always open to having conversations with my colleagues.

I dedicated 30 years of my life to policing, reaching the rank of Chief Inspector within the police service. As a Black man, the son of Jamaican immigrants, I understood the weight of responsibility in bridging the gap between policing and Black communities. 

When the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) launched the Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) following George Floyd's murder, I was seconded to help lead this initiative. Although approaching the end of my policing career and as throughout my career, I was determined to influence a plan which I hoped would succeed when other national plans and many initiatives had failed. Instead, I encountered discrimination, systemic racism, hostility, and barriers at every turn.

From the outset, the PRAP lacked structure. There was no strategic plan, governance, or anti-racism training. 

Although my team, composed of Black officers and staff, we worked tirelessly, we faced an uphill battle and the appearance of we were set up to fail. Above us, an entirely white leadership team seemed unprepared—and unwilling—to confront the deep-seated institutionally racism in policing.

My experience of racism was not abstract. I was undermined, sidelined, and labelled as “angry” and “carrying emotional baggage” - racial stereotypes used to silence my advocacy.

The leadership’s indifference was staggering. A white Programme Director questioned the need for Black officers on PRAP and dismissed their lived experiences. When I challenged this, I was targeted. My role was diminished, and I was demoted in status without consultation. The working environment became so toxic that I had to leave the program. Shortly afterwards I left policing suffering the impact of being racially discriminated.

Even after raising grievances and filing claims under the Equality Act, accountability was elusive. Despite my complaints being substantiated by HR, the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) refused to act. Instead, they shielded the very individuals responsible for my mistreatment. Witnesses feared retaliation, and a culture of silence persisted.

I withdrew my first Employment Tribunal claim (I cannot say more for legal reasons) and retired from the police believing by taking a stand against racism I experienced on the PRAP I had helped in the pushback against IR at the Metropolitan Police and in the police generally. 

Afterwards however in July 2024 one of my Employment Tribunal witnesses (and my BPA rep) was called to a meeting with the NPCC Chair. My witness was chastised in that hostile meeting for comments they had made calling out other senior officers for racism and was accused of being untruthful in their witness statement in support of my claim. I agreed with the contents of their statement. The NPCC Chair apparently did not express any concern for me or my welfare, or for others suffering racism in the meeting. It was a backlash against my claims. 

To ensure this meeting was even more intimidating for my witness, one of the senior officers mentioned and criticised for racism in my witness’s statement was present. It was an ambush to undermine my witness and my former claims of racism! My witness had not been warned that this senior officer would be present prior to the meeting which appears to have been designed to silence them and prevent them from speaking out in the future.

It was very upsetting for one of my brave witnesses to be targeted for supporting my claims. Several witnesses stood up, but most were too scared to do so. Attacking my main witness was designed to ensure that no one stood up against racism in the future. Rather than learn to fight IR they reverted to intimidation tactics. 

In September 2024 I met with the NPCC Chair. I sought an apology for the hostility I endured while working on the PRAP and assurances that safeguards were in place for current Black officers and staff seconded on the Program. I still hoped to see that progress had been made on the PRAP and black officers were finally being valued in a safe working environment. I wanted to hear about lessons learnt. 

My hopes were dashed when I was patronised and belittled in the meeting. The NPCC Chair admitted he had not read my witness statement submitted to the Employment Tribunal and appeared to dismiss my concerns about the racism on the PRAP. Given that he was ultimately responsible for the racist working environment that was very upsetting. Nothing was being acknowledged let alone learnt.  

I asked him if he had met with my witness and if the witness had been warned off. It was clear that shutting down those who speak up against racism or those who support others doing so is wrong and victimising. The Chair admitted meeting my witness and did not deny warning my witness off. I left the meeting in a state of despondency. There had been no organisational learning just a backlash against me in that meeting and through the attack on my witness. The NPCC Chair’s behaviour reinforced and brought back to me the systemic nature of the racism I faced.

He did not acknowledge my experiences on the PRAP or even know what they were. 

He tried to convince me that changes had been made, but not acknowledging or knowing what the problems were made that unlikely. Further, my main witness had been retaliated against. 

The changes included offering the Police Chaplain services to the Black staff (one Black officer working on the PRAP had asked the HR department at the Met Police to “pray for her”) and that a senior Black officer (who previously closed ranks to deny IR at the Met Police, and who had defended two white officers who racially profiled and acted unlawfully on a police stop in respect of a Black police Inspector off duty and returning from work at New Scotland Yard), had offered to speak with them.  Neither step seemed to have been taken to empower the Black officers to speak up.   

I am seeking justice and want to hold racists and bullies in policing to account —not just for myself, but to ensure no other Black officer or staff endure what I was subject to.

The PRAP’s failure lies not in its expressed intention but in the Metropolitan Police and NPCC’s purposeful steps to ensure it does not empower Black officers and staff or Black communities the police are supposed to serve. It demonstrates leadership’s unwillingness to confront institutional racism. There is no willingness to acknowledge IR or embrace “lived experience”. It appears they are only willing to work with black officers who see no racism, hear no racism and keep quiet when racism happens. I hope my struggle forces meaningful change in policing, creating an environment where Black officers and staff and Black communities are genuinely respected and valued.

I need to raise funds to pay for my legal team (Equal Justice Ltd.) so I can advance my new claim at the Employment Tribunal and thereby continue to hold the NPCC to account for their failure to protect Black officers and staff for their failure to implement a proper PRAP. It is vital for the Black communities that I succeed. 

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