The Police and Stereotypes of Ethnic Minorities – the British Experience

This chapter examines some of the issues that have resulted in a perceived lack of consent offered to the police by much of the ethnic minority communities in British society. In his report into the Brixton disorders of 1981, Scarman described the relationship between the police and the ethnic minority community in Lambeth as a “tale of failure.” The chapter focuses on the question of police stereotyping of ethnic minorities and the implications of this for the effective policing of these communities. It is clear that there are other issues that will influence the relation between ethnic minorities and the police, but for the sake of this chapter the author concentrates on this particular phenomenon. He examines one of the major reasons that is often cited for this stereotyping; namely a lack of ethnic minority police officers. He then refers to the debate over police training that has taken place since the urban disorders of the early 1980s.