Self Check Q&A

Consider the below questions to check your understanding of topics covered in the book. Click on the question to reveal the answer.

1. Why has it been assumed, mistakenly, that concerns about police relations with minority ethnic communities have only developed in recent decades?

Answer: because of a mythical view of the golden age of policing in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, during that period there were problems of police racism, and these can be traced back much further

2. Which police service conducted the second investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence?

Answer: Kent Police

3. What police policy developments in the late 1980s were associated with developing a customer-focused service delivery model of policing?

Answer: the Metropolitan Police ‘Plus Programme’ and ACPO’s Statement of Common Purpose and Values

4. What three factors did the Macpherson Report suggest had marred the investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence

Answer: professional incompetence, institutional racism, and a failure of leadership

5. How was the traditional policing strategy used in response to racist incidents characterized?

Answer: order-maintenance

6. How many hate crimes were recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2015/16?

Answer: 62,518

7. What legislative change, relating to racist incidents, was introduced by the 1998 Crime and Disorder Act?

Answer: racially-aggravated offences

8. What diverse populations were identified in a 2003 HMIC report?

Answer: lesbian, gay or bisexual people; the deaf or hard of hearing; people with mental illness; gypsies/travellers; people with disabilities; victims of domestic violence; asylum seekers; young people; older people; transgender people; those involved in child protection issues; people from areas of poverty (the socially excluded)

9. On what basis did Sir Ian Blair defend efforts to recruit a more diverse police workforce? 

Answer: that there was a ‘business case’ to do so, not that it was a matter of ‘political correctness’

10. What notion has been central to the concept of ‘policing by consent’?

Answer: that the police officer is a ‘citizen in uniform