Many police officers all over the country would argue that it is their force that is the most barmy when it comes to dealing with any issues relating to diversity and multiculturalism. Well, as a serving offi-cer in the force, I would argue that ACPO (Association
of Chief Police Officers) ranks in the Merseyside Police are the worst in the country for subjecting their
subordinate officers to all things 'politically correct' – especially when it comes to the vexed issue of race.
Ever since their arrival in Merseyside, Chief Constable Norman Bettison and Deputy Chief
Constable Mike Tonge have sought to promote issues of multiculturalism, diversity, equality and race aware-ness
within the force with super-human energy. Many officers believe that if they had shown the same vigour
and dedication to fighting crime on the streets of Merseyside the citizens of the county would see an
amazing transformation in their neighbourhoods. Bettison and Tonge are part of the 'new brigade'
of senior police officers who have been indoctrinated by the multiculturalist doctrine fed to them by the
Home Office. Whenever a 'race issue' emerges in Merseyside Police, Messrs Bettison and Tonge seize
upon the issue immediately, ensuring that it gets their full and uninterrupted attention.
I can recall two incidents where Bettison and Tonge pursued Merseyside Police employees for
"using inappropriate and offensive language that may cause offence to people from ethnic minorities" with
the type of determination usually afforded only to tracking serial killers.
The first incident involved a civilian member of staff, who passed comment on the décor in a house
owned by an Asian family. The comment that the décor was "typically Asian" was, in my opinion, per-fectly
acceptable. After all, many Asian families do have specific and unique tastes when decorating their
homes, just as other classes or groups in British socie-ty do. Consider a working class, white family in
Liverpool who may adorn their houses with laminate flooring, stone cladding, fake leather suites and room-sized
TV sets. This type of décor would be referred to in Liverpool as a "typical criminal's" – this comment
would be laughed at for what it is, a humorous, non-offensive comment. But one crucial factor distin-guishes
the two scenarios – race. It is a classic case of Leftist double standards; whilst both statements may
be offensive, it is only the comment made about Asians that is worthy of further disciplinary action
against the 'racist' who uttered it. What followed was years of persecution and victim-isation
of the employee who had uttered the phrase. Detectives from the force's Professional Standards
Unit (PSU) investigated this 'crime' and subjected the employee to turmoil and uncertainty about her future
within the service. The investigation affected the employee so badly that she continues to suffer with
stress-induced ill health. Needless to say, senior offi-cers gave their unqualified blessing to the investiga-tion
and extolled the virtues of dealing robustly with 'racists'. I can recall one sickening episode involving a
senior officer within the organisation who stood up at a meeting attended by 50 or so departmental col-leagues
of the employee. The senior officer, with no apparent shame or hint of embarrassment, con-demned the employee and, in so many words, wished
her 'good riddance'. This act was particularly shame-ful as the investigation was still ongoing – and surely
until 'guilt' was apportioned, the 'defendant' should have been presumed innocent? It may be coincidence
but the senior officer making these disgraceful com-ments was promoted to Superintendent within months.
Another despicable episode occurred about 18 months ago. On this occasion a police officer, with
over 20 years of outstanding service, was suspended pending a disciplinary investigation for telling a joke
to colleagues that involved a member of the ethnic minorities. No member of an ethnic minority was
present when the joke was told, but a white colleague felt he had to act and inform his superiors of what he
had heard. This sort of 'whistle blowing' is actively encouraged by senior officers, and those that fail to
report such occurrences are threatened with the same disciplinary measures as those who actually speak the
words. I can honestly say that this directive has had a massively corrosive affect on police morale. Police offi-cers
are genuinely scared about coming to work; the thought of saying something remotely controversial
frightens them. The modern police workplace is increasingly bereft of humour, laughter and relaxation
– all things that make for a positive and enjoyable workplace atmosphere. Police officers now have to
weigh up every utterance before they speak, so they speak in sound-bites and officially approved slogans.
The detrimental effect of these Stalinist-like doctrines cannot be exaggerated; the soul of the police service
has been ripped out and I am not sure if it will ever return.
Telling such a joke in the current hysterical climate, especially in the police, was not the cleverest thing to
have done and the officer has himself accepted that he was naïve (notwithstanding the fact that we jocularly
denigrate 'Scousers' as thieves and 'Geordies' as lazy, beer-swilling thugs, but no allegations of racism are
ever made) – but what followed was a witch-hunt of quite astounding proportions.
The officer was immediately suspended and sub-ject to a year-long disciplinary investigation by the
PSU. The officer, who is married with two children, was left to fend for himself and worry about his career
and the safety and welfare of his home and family. Not surprisingly, senior officers, who had once been loyal
and valued friends and colleagues, distanced them-selves from him and it was only lower-ranking officers
who offered him encouragement and support. After over a year of evidence-gathering and investigation by
detectives that cost the Merseyside Police tens of thou-sands of pounds, the dispirited officer came before a
disciplinary panel chaired by ACPO rank officers. Without the slightest hesitation or hint of regret, he
was sacked for 'racist behaviour'. 20 years of out-standing service, a previously unblemished discipli-nary
record, a long service and good conduct medal and countless commendations – all stood for absolute-ly
nothing when it came to an accusation of 'racist behaviour'.
I know colleagues who have committed criminal acts such as drink driving and perverting the course of justice, yet remained in the service. It seems that in the modern British police service telling a slightly 'offen-sive'
joke is a far more heinous act than driving a car whilst over the limit or telling lies to frustrate a crim-inal
investigation. Incidentally, the aforementioned officer successfully
appealed against his sacking and was reinstated to the force with immediate effect. It is also pleasing to note
that throughout the investigation and his subsequent appeal, he was supported by a senior officer of
Oriental origin, who, refreshingly, saw the whole process for what it was – a politically driven witch-hunt
against a fine officer in order to satisfy sycophantic senior officers and their social liberal political masters.
Sadly, the officer, mentally exhausted following his ordeal, could not re-accustom himself to policing and
resigned from the service soon afterwards. What a sad loss to the service and the public of Merseyside.
The issue of race has continued to blight the police service. Following the recent BBC documentary The
Secret Policemen, that used an undercover reporter to expose racism amongst police recruits, senior police
officers nationally and locally reacted with a pre-dictable spate of self-flagellation and breast-beating,
talking tough on how they would use whatever meth-ods it took to weed out racist officers. How refreshing
it would be if they reacted with the same sort of fist-waving gusto when trying to track down criminals
who peddle drugs or abuse children. We in the Merseyside force braced ourselves for
the expected frenzied response from Messrs Bettison and Tonge. We were not disappointed. Although no
Merseyside officers were implicated in the pro-gramme, Mr Tonge nevertheless announced the most
extreme, hare-brained and mind-boggling initiative in order to identify racist officers – 'mystery shoppers'.
'Mystery shoppers' will be black and Asian people who will masquerade as victims of 'racist crimes' and
report such incidents to unsuspecting police officers. The 'shoppers' will approach police officers on the
beat or at police station front desks and report make-believe racial crimes. They will then see how police
officers speak to them and report their findings back to senior officers.
Like most officers within my force, I was aston-ished with what was being proposed. Anxious to try
and dampen the anger felt by officers, Mr Tonge cir-culated an internal message to all Merseyside officers.
The theme of the message was one of identifying "training and awareness issues" through the use of
'mystery shoppers'. The message was a far cry from the threatening language used in earlier press releases
when senior Merseyside officers threatened to "nail racist officers". As serving officers, what were we sup-posed
to believe? Was it a 'training and awareness exercise' or was it a means to identify 'racist' officers
through underhanded and devious methods and boot them out of the service? Colleagues within the force
have met the proposed use of 'mystery shoppers' with a mixture of fear and humour.
Several issues arise out of the 'mystery shopper' proposals. The first thing that strikes colleagues and
me is the issue of 'wasting police time' – a criminal offence in itself. Following the receipt of a report of a
'racist incident' by the 'mystery shopper', the targeted officer will embark upon several hours worth of inves-tigative
work including preservation and securing of evidence, completion of crime reports, statement tak-ing
(victim and witnesses), victim re-assurance, etc. At


what stage will the targeted officer be informed that the incident is in fact a bogus one and need not require
investigation any more? I know how I would feel if I was informed after several hours hard work that the
incident reported to me was completely fictitious. What of the Merseyside public (white and non-white)
who have been denied the presence of an operational officer for half a shift because he or she has been deal-ing
with an incident that did not occur? They would be furious, and rightly so.
What if the targeted officer had not dealt with the 'mystery shopper' in exactly the right way? What if a
box had not been ticked on the crime report or the 'victim' had not been given a lift home? Would this
indicate racism on behalf of the unfortunate officer? No report of crime can be dealt with in precisely the
textbook manner – workload pressures and other demands often ensure that small and generally
insignificant things are overlooked – but the impor-tant facts are never overlooked. It is my opinion that
any deficiency in dealing with the 'mystery shopper' – no matter how incidental or obscure – will be seized
on as evidence of racism. The initiative is itself racist – racist against whites.
Only white officers will be targeted, and subjected to a covert integrity test. It is clear that the 'targeted'
white officer is being disadvantaged because of his/ her colour. 'Integrity testing' officers covertly is an
unpleasant, devious and underhand tactic and will clearly have a detrimental effect on the officer con-cerned.
Meanwhile, black and Asian officers will be advantaged because they will be exempt from the tests.
Why should black and Asian officers not be tested by white 'mystery shoppers'? It seems in the Merseyside
Police racism is a one way street. Mr Tonge and his cronies have failed to realise the
true implications of their proposals. Merseyside offi-cers and, I suspect, officers from forces all over the UK
are sick to the back teeth with politicians and senior police officers espousing the virtues of multicultural-ism,
political correctness and diversity. The detrimen-tal impact these far-Left initiatives are having on
police officers' morale and ability to enforce the law cannot be overestimated.
I know of some officers who, since the publication of the Macpherson Report, simply refuse to stop black
criminals on the streets. They are understandably fear-ful that they will be the victims of spurious complaints
of 'racism' – and they suspect that the black criminal making the allegations will be treated with far more
respect and civility than the officer. The fact is that criminal offences largely carried out by blacks are out
of control – gun crime is soaring, crack cocaine use and importation is rife and street robbery is endemic.
Why? Because the thought of entering so called 'black communities' and tackling these criminals head on
frightens politicians and senior police officers to death. Personally, I am as disillusioned with my job as I
have ever been. I joined the police with the intention of serving the public without fear or favour and lock-ing
up criminals that target the weak and vulnerable. I am now a social worker in uniform, led by sycophan-tic
and craven senior officers, answerable to social lib-eral politicians who threaten the future of our nation.
I can honestly say that if I was offered a job with near equal pay to what I am earning now, I would leave the
service tomorrow – such is my current disillusionment with today's police service. I say this with a heavy
heart but it is the truth.
The author is a
serving police
officer