Police being ‘hampered by too much focus on diversity, equality and inclusion’, powerful think-tank warns, citing Southport, Nottingham and Henry Nowak killers as examples
Diversity programs cost police forces tens of millions of pounds a year and contribute to ‘two-tiered’ justice cases, a think tank has claimed.
Policy Exchange said the stabbings in Nottingham, the Southport brutality and the murder of Henry Nowak were examples of the State failing to properly deal with criminal behavior due to concerns about being labeled racist.
He said the clamor for police chiefs to pursue ‘equality of outcome’ amounted to a ‘denial of the police’s duty to act without fear or favor and the implementation of two-tier policing’.
It is also estimated that the amount spent by police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) activities since the murder of George Floyd in 2020 has cost at least £631 million; This is enough to cover the expenses of thousands of frontline officers.
David Spencer, former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector and head of crime and justice at Policy Exchange, said his report revealed the ‘staggering cost of police obsession with DEI’.
He said: ‘Police forces have attempted to embed the radical ideology of ‘anti-racism’ into British policing.
‘In doing so, some police chiefs acted contrary to policing’s own fundamental principle of acting “without fear or favour.”‘
He said analysis showed these policies were driven by police chiefs rather than politicians.
The murderers (from left) Vickrum Digwa, Axel Rudakubana and Valdo Calocane are featured in Policy Exchange’s report
He said: ‘It is a tragedy of our times that many of our Chief Constables cannot be trusted to solve this problem alone.
‘It is time to re-establish the principle of ‘equality before the law’ in policing. Nothing is at stake other than the fundamental legitimacy of the British police.’
According to the report, police forces have been focusing more on DEI measures since the death of Mr Floyd, an unarmed black American, by a white police officer in the US six years ago.
Police forces in England and Wales are overly concerned about accusations of racism, the think tank suggested.
The report stated: ”The debate over the existence of ‘two-tier’ or ‘differential’ policing will undoubtedly continue.
‘But what we have uncovered is that where examples do occur they cannot simply be attributed to individual cases or poor decision-making by individual police officers.
‘These are likely to be the result of policy-making and decision-making that has taken place at the highest levels of policing in recent years.’
He cites as examples the cases of murderers Valdo Calocane, Axel Rudakubana and Vickrum Digwa, where the perpetrators’ ethnicity hindered prosecution.
Police forces spend too much time focusing on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) measures, report suggests
The public inquiry into the Nottingham attacks heard the mental health team assessed Calocane three years before he killed three people and considered an ‘over-representation’ of young black men in custody before deciding to release him into the community.
Elsewhere, a social worker accused Rudakubana’s headteacher of racially stereotyping him when he raised concerns about his behavior before he stabbed three little girls to death and injured several more at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in 2024.
And it was recently revealed that Hampshire Police arrested Southampton student Henry Nowak, who was near death after being stabbed by Sikh man Digwa. He was falsely accused of racism by his killer.
The Policy Exchange report said: ‘These conditions often arise because professionals fear being labeled racist. Examples are many.
‘But to date it is unclear to what extent such cases represent isolated examples of poor decision-making or the result of systemic practices and policies.’
The report estimates forces have spent at least £631 million on DEI measures and the Police Race Action Plan since 2020, based on estimates from five police forces in England.
This includes an estimated £431 million of the manpower costs of DEI training, £177 million of work with a DEI element and £23 million of external training and consultancy.
Last night Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said police should ‘cancel all this DEI nonsense and instead spend the time and money catching criminals’.
He said: ‘This is a shocking waste of taxpayers’ money and a completely wrong priority when the public rightly want to see more police tackling the knife crime, burglary and burglary we see on our streets every day.’
He said the Conservatives wanted to ‘put an end to identity politics in the province, including policing once and for all’.
