MPA - promoting professional standards, equality and diversity in policing

51/05
5 October 2005

The Metropolitan Police Authority will be holding an open debate about professional standards within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the conduct of officers and staff in preserving the highest standards of ethics and integrity, this Thursday, 6 October at 14:00.

At a joint meeting of the MPA’s Equal Opportunities & Diversity Board (EODB) and the Professional Standards and Complaints Committee (PSCC), community representatives, along with members of the Black Police Association (BPA) and S.A.M.U.R.A.I., the MPS Staff Associations umbrella body, will contribute to the debate.

Kirsten Hearn, chair of EODB, said:

“Today we will be considering how the Department of Professional Standards, and the MPS as a whole, promotes equality and diversity in carrying out its work.

“Much work has been commissioned in recent years that impacts on internal equality and diversity issues and today we want to get a real picture of how far recommendations made have impacted on internal MPS culture. I am in no doubt that recommendations are of no value if they do not achieve the desired outcomes.

“We fully expect representatives from community groups across London attending today to have some challenging questions for the MPS, which should result in a lively and constructive debate.”

Reshard Auladin, chair of PSCC, said:

“I welcome the opportunity this joint forum, with the valuable contribution of members of our communities who work so hard with us to bring about change, gives us to develop ways of improving professional standards within the MPS.

“The MPS is on the verge of a root and branch reorganisation of the way it provides services to Londoners following a thorough ‘Service Review’. Part of this process is to follow-up the recommendation of the Morris Inquiry to carry out a fundamental review of the Department of Professional Standards. This review is in progress and it will be interesting to hear a progress report.”

Other papers to be discussed during the remainder of the meeting include the revision of the MPS Diversity Strategy, the proposed MPA Domestic Violence Board and the outcomes from the Stop & Search Scrutiny Board. Committee standing orders, suspended for the period of the open debate, will be reinstated for consideration of these items and will not be open for public discussion.

Notes to editors

1. The Equal Opportunities & Diversity Board meets at 14:00 on Thursday 6 October 2005 in Meeting Room 1 at the MPA, 10 Dean Farrar Street, London, SW1H 0NY.

2. Members of the public and media are welcome to attend.

3. The papers for the meeting of the Equal Opportunities & Diversity Board are available on the MPA’s dedicated website

4. Organisations that have confirmed their attendance at the meeting include:

Association of Senior Women Officers (ASWO); Metropolitan Police Federation; Community Security Trust & Board of Deputies of British Jews; Superintendents’ Association, ACAS London; Greater London Authority (Mayor’s Office); MPS Chinese and South East Asian Staff Association; Metropolitan Police Turkish and Turkish Cypriot Association; Westminster Race Equality Council; Southwark Mediation Centre; British Association for Women in Policing (BAWP); Jewish Police Association; Christian Police Association (London Branch); Association of Muslim Police; Asian Fire Service Association (AFSA), LFEPA; MPS Jewish Police Association; MPS Gay Police Association; Schools Out!

5. The MPA’s Equal Opportunities & Diversity Board (EODB) holds regular themed meetings to focus on specific areas of diversity with the participation of invited interest groups.

6. The MPA’s Professional Standards and Complaints Committee (PSCC) has responsibility for the MPA’s statutory oversight of professional standards in the MPS.

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