Senior national police visited Hertfordshire to see some of the constabulary’s work tackling racial disparities in policing in the county. The National Police Chiefs’ Council’s leadership team for the Police Race Action Plan joined the constabulary’s Race Inclusion Board at headquarters on Thursday, 24 October.
The board is a panel of Black volunteer members of the public who regularly meet with senior officers in Hertfordshire to scrutinise and advise on the constabulary’s work towards the Police Race Action Plan.
The meeting heard updates on the constabulary’s work to set up a Race Inclusion Forum for those of school age, meaning that young Black voices in Hertfordshire will also be heard in how we address disparities.
There was also an update on stop and search training for frontline officers. Stop and search remains a contentious subject in policing and continues to be cited as a significant reason for low levels of trust in policing in the Black community. The training aims to increase officer understanding of the impact of being subject to stop and search and the manner in which this is carried out has on individuals.
The national team included T/Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dr Alison Heydari who is national programme director for the Police Race Action Plan and currently the most senior Black police officer in the UK. She gave an update on progress at a national level and also took questions from the Race Inclusion Board members.
She said: “It was a pleasure to hear about some truly fantastic work going on in Hertfordshire in relation to the Police Race Action Plan.
“From the collaborative work to help educate officers about what it feels like to be stop and searched through to innovative ways of communication and evaluation, I was left feeling extremely reassured that Hertfordshire is making excellent progress in its journey to become an anti-racist police service.
“Thank you for the warm welcome. There is so much good work being done, though we all accept there is so much more to do.”
Assistant Chief Constable Catherine Akehurst, who is the chief officer lead for the Police Race Action Plan in Hertfordshire, added: “We were delighted to welcome Dr Heydari and the national team to our Race Inclusion Board. It gave officers and board members the chance to see and hear about work in this area from a countywide perspective.
“Here in Herts, we are actively working on ways to ensure Black voices are heard and are helping to shape policing in the county. Our hope is that in the months and years to come this work will be seen and felt by Black people in Hertfordshire.”
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