Macpherson Inquiry report 10 years on

February 2009

The Macpherson Inquiry report had a massive impact on both policing and communities in London. In the ten years since, the Met has come a long way and achieved many goals. It should be congratulated for the diversity and equalities policies which have been implemented and for gaining the confidence of London’s communities.

Working alongside our communities is the only way to tackle crime successfully – particularly the two major challenges facing London today: combating terrorism and gun and knife crime murders.

But despite the Met’s many successes, problems within the service still exist. The MPA has set up the Race and Faith Inquiry to focus on recruitment, retention and particularly progression of BME staff.

The Inquiry will not repeat previous investigations around race and diversity issues but establish what is still required in order to achieve real cultural change in the organisation.

We now have an opportunity to identify the successes and praise the service for its efforts and achievements. But we also have a responsibility to reflect upon the barriers and problems that still remain and ultimately arrive at workable solutions and seek support and ‘buy in’ from the MPA and the Met.

The MPA has also worked with the Met to improve the way that stop and search is carried out, as this continues to be a major cause of concern for London’s BME communities, in particular young black and Asian males.

The MPA Stop and Search scrutiny (2004) made recommendations to improve how officers are trained and how they communicate with the people they stop. This training has been integral to the roll out of Operation Blunt 2, the current anti-knife campaign, which has introduced ‘knife arches’ to London’s streets and the widespread use of stop and search tactics to protect young people.

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback