Gloucestershire Police Stop & Search

Stroud Against Racism vs. Gloucestershire Constabulary

....for the reasons outlined above, it would have been appropriate for Stroud Against Racism to have been contacted once your formal complaint had been received. Had you been contacted, the issues which have since come to light may have been exposed sooner. On that basis, your review is upheld

This interactive evidence gap map was commissioned by New Zealand Police.

https://www.waikato.ac.nz/security-crime-science/research/evidence-map

Gloucestershire Constabulary’s Chief Constable has pledged to meet the commitments of a new National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) Race Action Plan launched today (Tuesday 24 May).

The Independent Review Officer OPCC for Gloucestershire

Complainant details

This complaint is against Gloucestershire Constabulary (the constabulary), 1 Waterwells Drive, Quedgeley, Gloucester, GL2 2AN

The complaint is made by Mr Gareth Kitchen on behalf of Stroud Against Racism (SAR) on the 31st January 2022.

A personal account of the Constabulary's Stop & Search Community Scrutiny Panel (SSCSP). Sent to the Chair of the Police & Crime Panel at Gloucestershire County Council on 26th Oct 2021.

Summary

Although the SSCSP is professionally run, over the last couple of years the Constabulary has been quietly:-

• Reducing openness and transparency
  • by reducing SSCSP meetings from twelve to four a year
• Creating barriers to SSCSP participation.
  • by mandating confidentiality agreements for attendance
  • by mandating vetting for participation.
• Failing to honour the Community Complaints Trigger Mechanism
• Failing to adapt processes within Professional Standards Department to permit
  • notification of complaints to the panels
  • sending details of complaints to the panels
  • an immediate understanding of issues surrounding complaints
• editing the panel's original Terms of Reference without proper disclosure
• avoiding public disclosure of its departures from BUSSS.

You can use this link interrogate the Stop & Search data about Gloucestershire Constabulary.

Last week I attended the Police Building Stronger Communities Roadshow at the Sub Rooms in Stroud, representing Stroud Against Racism.

It was an impressive audio visual production but without a formal questions and answers session.

However, in the break whilst 'mingling', persistence paid off and I was able to ask the newly elected Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson and after the event, Chief Constable Rod Hansen, a few questions:-

Perpetuating racist stereotypes

The over-representation of people from racial and ethnic minorities in the Criminal Justice System is a serious concern.

The generally accepted minority ethnic diversity statistic for Gloucestershire is approx 5%. Comparing this to the national sentencing data from the Ministry of Justice the over-representation is clear.

I have served on the Gloucestershire Police Stop & Search Scrutiny Panel for over two years where, more recently, I have been proud to represent Stroud Against Racism.

The Constabulary have engaged positively and I believe SAR has built up a good and respectful working relationship. This blog is representative of this engagement.