Thames Valley Police officers educated in new race action plan

Assistant Chief Constable Dennis Murray is leading the work on the action plan

The head of a police taskforce aiming to improve how the organisation deals with the black community has said it is undertaking a "whole campaign of education".

Thames Valley Police has published a new iteration of its race action plan.

Assistant Chief Constable Dennis Murray said officers were being educated to improve things in the future.

He also admitted the force had been disproportionate when stopping and searching black people.

He told the BBC: "We know that we are disproportionate in our use of stop and search, we know that we are underrepresented in our recruitment and that actually we're not retaining people in the way we should."

But he said the National Black Police Association had found that the force "did not meet all the hallmarks of an institutionally-racist organisation".

Key commitments

He said change was "not going to happen overnight" but "had to start somewhere" and be consistent.

"This is about building into the organisation the DNA of how we do things going forward," he added.

Thames Valley Police has had made four key commitments and will publish yearly reports on its progress.

They are:

• For communities to see themselves when they look at policing through representation

• To treat communities fairly, with respect and dignity, eliminating racial bias and disproportionality

• To involve communities in policing and improve engagement

• To take action if some communities get a different service to others

It said it had made tweaks to its plan after engaging with more than 2,600 people of black heritage at about 40 special events.

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

"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," he said.

Last year the Home Office published data about all the 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.

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.

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