Police force promises action plan over race stats

Assistant Chief Constable Dennis Murray said the force was using methods to improve its approach towards different communities

A police chief has said he hopes an action plan will help ensure officers are not disproportionately using force against black people.

Statistics in a Home Office report suggested black people in the Thames Valley were more likely to experience forceful policing.

The Race Equality Foundation described the contrast with how white suspects were treated as "stark".

Thames Valley Police Assistant Chief Constable Dennis Murray said the force was "working hard to reduce disproportionality".

The Home Office published data about all times police in England and Wales used force against the public between April 2022 and March 2023.

This includes the use of firearms, handcuffs, batons, dogs and Tasers.

The figures showing who the force was used against are broken down into categories of age, gender and ethnicity.

Forceful tactics were recorded being used 28,332 times in the Thames Valley, with black people being subjects of 3,615 of the cases.

That makes up about 13% of the total, while just 4% of people in the region are black.

Jabeer Butt, CEO of the Race Equality Foundation, said a change in training within the force was needed.

"People often point to the fact that Thames Valley Police continue to have a lower number of minority people as police officers themselves," he said.

"But I suspect it's more than that. I suspect it's something to do with the way we train people and particularly about the decisions they make as to what is a dangerous situation."

A workforce diversity report from the Thames Valley Police from 2021 shows there were fewer black officers compared to the population they serve.

ACC Murray said Thames Valley Police was developing a Race Action Plan that he hoped would tackle disproportionality when force was used.

"The use of powers is a priority to help the trust and confidence of our communities," he said.

"We are working with our scrutiny and advisory groups to develop accurate data that seeks to identify the route cause and put in place demonstrable activity to improve our approach."