Jan 2, 2025 Story by: Editor
Civil rights group the Runnymede Trust has described recent statistics on police use of force as “shameful” and called for police forces to explore alternative methods of policing.
According to Home Office data, individuals from black ethnic backgrounds were 3.2 times more likely to experience police use of force than white individuals across England and Wales, excluding the Metropolitan Police, during the year leading up to March.
In Thames Valley, police employed forceful methods, such as restraint and unarmed use of force, 4,317 times against black individuals and 27,135 times against white individuals this year. Census data from 2022-2023 indicates that approximately 93,200 black people and 2 million white people reside in the Thames Valley region.
This means Thames Valley Police utilized force approximately 46 times per 1,000 black people and 14 times per 1,000 white people. The statistics imply that black individuals are 3.4 times more likely to encounter force from the police than their white counterparts.
Nationwide, including figures from the British Transport Police, law enforcement agencies across England and Wales recorded 1.1 million instances of forceful tactics during the year ending in March, with 43,000 of these incidents occurring in Thames Valley. When excluding the BTP, which only contributed data for the first time this year, the overall use of force rose by 8% compared to the previous year.
The most frequently cited reason for officers deploying force was for self-protection.
Stephen Walcott, senior researcher at the Runnymede Trust, expressed concern over both the racial disparities and the overall increase in forceful tactics, describing them as “equally concerning” for being “violent and harmful.” He added, “We must look towards alternatives to crime and harm prevention, which reduces the likelihood of police contact and eliminates the reliance on ‘tough on crime’ approaches. That means meaningful investment into communities and societal infrastructure that addresses the social and material conditions which lead to crime and allow harm to thrive.”
A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs’ Council stated that efforts are underway to understand the “disproportionality” related to race and ethnicity in police use of force data. They emphasized ongoing commitment to the Police Race Action Plan, which aims to build “an inclusive, anti-racist organisation” and address discrimination faced by black individuals who either work in or interact with the police.
A Home Office spokesperson also commented, stating, “Our police regularly put themselves in harm’s way to keep our streets safe, but nobody should be treated differently based on their race or ethnicity. All police use of force should be reasonable, proportionate and necessary. When officers take the difficult decision to deploy force, they are accountable through the law for their actions, and it is important that there can be scrutiny by the people they serve.” Source: Reading Chronicle
