Institutional Racism and the Police: Fact or Fiction: 6 (Civil Society S.) - Softcover

Grieve, John G.D.; Ignatieff, Michael; O'Brien, Mike; Skidelsky, Robert; French, Julie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1903386063 ISBN 13: 9781903386064

Publisher: Civitas:Institute for the Study of Civil Society, 2000

Synopsis

Sir William Macpherson's inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence claimed to find evidence of 'institutional' or 'unwitting' racism in the Metropolitan Police Service. However, the inquiry's findings were controversial. No evidence was produced - at least in the sense in which evidence is understood in a court of law. The definition of racism which Macpherson devised was contentious because it was unprovable, and Macpherson failed to give weight to alternative explanations for the way in which Stephen Lawrence's killers escaped prosecution. In this collection of essays John Grieve of the Metropolitan Police's Racial and Violent Crime Task Force accepts the charge of institutional racism and gives an account of the ways in which the MPS is seeking to combat this. Home Office Minister Mike O'Brien expands this with an account of measures which the Home Office is adopting to eliminate racism in all of its departments. Robert Skidelsky and Michael Ignatieff, on the other hand, argue that the real issue is police ineffectiveness, which impacts on all Londoners, black and white. The contributors to this book raise profound questions about the nature of policing in a free society and ask if the police must now be colour-conscious instead of colour blind. "Race crusaders have exploited the 1993 murder of black teenage Stephen Lawrence to boost their own power, it was claimed yesterday." The Sun. "The recommendations of the Macpherson Report 'are likely to diminish rather than improve racial harmony', it is claimed today." The Daily Telegraph. "The Home Office minister responsible for the police, Mike O'Brien, has argued that the term institutional racism is no longer appropriate to a police service that is attempting to change its ways...the liberal historian and journalist Michael Ignatieff makes the even better suggestion that what the police ought to concentrate on in the issue of competence, not racism." The Tablet.

About this title

Review

Race crusaders have exploited the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence to boost their own power, it was claimed yesterday. -- The Sun

The Home Office minister responsible for the police, Mike O'Brien, has argued that the term institutional racism is no longer appropriate to a police service that is attempting to change its ways... the liberal historian and journalist Michael Ignatieff makes the even better suggestion that what the police ought to concentrate on in the issue of competence, not racism. -- The Tablet

The recommendations of the Macpherson Report 'are likely to diminish rather than improve racial harmony', it is claimed today. -- The Daily Telegraph

About the Author

Julie French was the Senior Family Liaison Officer within the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force, supervising the implementation of family liaison policy within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). She joined the MPS in 1995, serving for two years at South Norwood Division in various operational posts. In 1998 she was seconded to a strategic unit responding to the findings of the Public Inquiry into the Death of Stephen Lawrence before joining the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force in 1999. She has a BSc (Hons.) degree in managerial and administrative studies (Aston University), a four-year course that included a placement in New York.

David G. Green is the Director of the Institute for the Study of Civil Society. His books include Power and Party in an English City, Allen & Unwin, 1980; Mutual Aid or Welfare State?, Allen & Unwin, 1984 (with L. Cromwell); Working-Class Patients and the Medical Establishment, Temple Smith/ Gower, 1985; The New Right: The Counter Revolution in Political, Economic and Social Thought, Wheatsheaf, 1987; Reinventing Civil Society, IEA, 1993; Community Without Politics, IEA, 1996; Benefit Dependency, IEA, 1998; An End to Welfare Rights, IEA, 1999; and Delay, Denial and Dilution, IEA, 1999 (with L. Casper).

He wrote the chapter on 'The Neo-Liberal Perspective' in The Student's Companion to Social Policy, Blackwell, 1998.

John G.D. Grieve is Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, which he joined in 1966 at Clapham. He has served as detective in South London and has worked in every role from undercover officer to policy chair on drug squads over a 30-year period. His duties have also involved the Flying Squad (two tours of duty), Robbery Squad and Murder Squads including East London Area Major Investigation Pool. He was a Divisional Commander at Bethnal Green in East London. He has an honours degree in philosophy and psychology (Newcastle University) and a master's degree post graduate research in drugs policy analysis from Cranfield University, travelling on a Swiss charitable scholarship throughout Europe. DAC Grieve has worked in Europe, America, South East Asia and Australia. He introduced Asset Seizure Investigation in the United Kingdom and was Head of Training at Hendon Police College. During that time he organised the Community, Fairness, Justice Conference. He was the first Director of Intelligence for the Metropolitan Police, led the MPS Intelligence Project and the Anti-Terrorist Squad as National Co-ordinator during the 1996-1998 bombing campaigns. DAC Grieve was appointed Director of the first Racial and Violent Crime Task Force in August 1998. His interests include walking, history (including art and police history) and painting. He was awarded the QPM in 1997 and the CBE in the millennium honours list.

Michael Ignatieff gained a doctorate in history at Harvard and has held academic posts at King's College, Cambridge, St Antony's College, Oxford, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of London and the London School of Economics. His books include A Just Measure of Pain: Penitentiaries in the Industrial Revolution, The Russian Album and Virtual War: Kosovo and Beyond. Screenplays include 1991 and Eugene Onegin as well as the television play Dialogue in the Dark, directed by Jonathan Miller. He was writer and presenter of a six-part documentary series on nationalism entitled Blood and Belonging, which was shown on BBC2, CBC and PBS and he hosted the flagship BBC TV arts programme The Late Show. His columns appear in The Observer, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Harpers, Time International and Prospect, and he is currently teaching at the Carr Centre for Human Rights at the Kennedy School, Harvard.

Mike O'Brien was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Home Office on 5 May 1997. He was educated at Blessed Edward Oldcorne School, Worcester Technical College and North Staffordshire Polytechnic. Member of Parliament for Warwickshire North since 1992, Mr O'Brien was opposition spokesman on Treasury and economic affairs from 1995 and the city spokesman from September 1996 until the general election. He is a former chairman of the Backbench Home Affairs Committee and has also been a member of two Commons Select Committees: Home Affairs (1992-1994) and Treasury and Civil Service (1993-1995). Mr O'Brien is also a former parliamentary adviser to the Police Federation. He lectured in law for six years before working as a solicitor until April 1992 when he was elected MP. He is married with two young daughters.

Robert Skidelsky is Chairman of the Social Market Foundation and Professor of Political Economy at Warwick University. He is the definitive biographer of the economist John Maynard Keynes, the third volume of which is due for publication in November. His wide-ranging areas of expertise include higher education, the economy, the school curriculum and foreign affairs. His spirited opposition to Government policy on Kosovo led to his dismissal by William Hague as principal opposition Front Bench spokesman in the House of Lords on Treasury affairs.

Edition details

• Publisher: Civitas:Institute for the Study of Civil Society
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1903386063
• ISBN 13: 9781903386064
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 59
• Editor: Green David G.