Met Police recruits to have cultural history lessons to improve awareness of Londoners’ different backgrounds

Bianca Williams stop and search incident
The moves follow the controversy over the stop and search last year of Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo dos Santos 
PA

New Metropolitan Police officers will be taught the “cultural history” of the area of London they will be policing as part of a Scotland Yard drive to improve the way it deals with people from different backgrounds.

Recruits will also receive instruction in the “experiences and challenges” of the area and undergo a “local community immersion” in a further attempt to boost their awareness of the circumstances they will face.

The moves were announced today as the Met also disclosed that it is to begin recording the ethnicity, sex and age of all drivers stopped by police to allow it to assess the extent of disproportionality and potential reasons for it.

The recording of this data, under a six-month pilot scheme, has been prompted by claims that black Londoners are unfairly targeted.

It follows the controversy over the stop and search last year of Team GB sprinter Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo dos Santos as they drove with their young child through Maida Vale. Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has apologised for the distress caused, although the force has insisted the stop was justified despite the couple’s claims of discrimination.  

Today, however, Met Commander Kyle Gordon said the reforms were all aimed at ensuring that officers understood the impact that their actions have on black Londoners in particular.

He added: “We want all communities to have the same level of trust in us. It is right and proper that we are transparent and accountable in the use of our powers and this pilot will help us assess our proportionality in relation to vehicle stops. Our job is quite simply to protect all of London’s communities and to do so with professionalism and empathy.”

Community monitoring groups will also be given renewed access to body-worn camera footage to help them understand police actions, while officers will also be trained in “de-escalation techniques” to minimise the chances of stop and searches turning violent.  

Mayor Sadiq Khan said the recording of ethnicity data for vehicle stops was part of an “action plan” of reforms that he had drawn up and welcomed today’s announcement by Scotland Yard.

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