Northamptonshire Police boss’s plan to level things up for our county’s black teens

It's not an easy conversation, but it's one Chief Constable Nick Adderley insists this county must have.

The issue of race and policing in our county - and in every county - is at the forefront of public discourse thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement.

When George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis on May 25 it sparked an international outcry and an uncomfortable mirror was reflected on police forces and their treatment of black, Asian and minority ethnic people.

In Northamptonshire, minority ethnic people were 14 times more likely to be stopped and searched by officers according to the latest government statistics, with young black men the most targeted group.

The force has tried, and largely failed, several times during the past decade to improve the number of BAME officers it has.

At the end of 2019, according to Police Workforce statistics, out of 1,300 officers there were just 14 officers identifying as Asian, 11 identifying as black, 19 of dual heritage and one Chinese officer. And out of a total staff of 2,695 including support staff, volunteers, specials and PCSOs, there were just 110 people identifying as BAME in the workforce.

In the second part of our exclusive look at Chief Constable Nick Adderley's first two years in charge of Northamptonshire Police, he tells us how the force is going to meet the challenge of balancing ensuring people have the right to protest with any incidents of public disorder.

The force has already posted BLM-supportive posts on its Facebook page and has said it will allow people the chance to gather to protest.

Mr Adderley said: "I was in the police in 1999 when the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence was released and during the 2011 riots, which provided the blueprint for how the police should deal with this issue."

Northamptonshire County Council's latest population estimates from 2019 say about 8.5 per cent of people in the county are from black, Asian or minority ethnic groups, and yet there are only four per cent of police officers from these groups in the county force.

Mr Adderley admits that it's vital to increase those numbers to help the force better represent its BAME communities.

"At one point we did get up to 4.2 per cent of officers from BAME communities," says Mr Adderley, "but we're now at just under four percent. There's been work going on with officers and from BAME backgrounds, community relations officers and the Black Police Association but it's all over the show.

"My proposal is that we are going to begin a round table discussion to bring all these strands of work under one umbrella to attract the best candidates from the BAME community and putting together a specific team to work on that.

"I want to get that balance right. We need to give the right candidates from the BAME community the right support.

"It's about how do we make sure it's an attractive proposition for all communities and supporting them through our recruitment process."

Chief Constable Adderley said he also aims to ensure that people from minority ethnic backgrounds are given a fair crack at promotion.

"Internally, how to we promote to make sure we are not unconsciously biased?

"Do we have racist officers in our force? Absolutely. But we make sure our mechanisms and process like whistle-blowing hotlines are where they need to be."

Mr Adderley said he's working with county police Independent Advisory Groups and the Black Police Association to try to reach under-25s. Part of the work will include looking at why, in Northamptonshire, people from ethnic minorities are statistically fourteen times times more likely than white people to get stopped and searched by police.

"Are you more likely to get stopped if you are black in Northamptonshire? Yes, you are. What we don't fully understand is why that is.

"I am going to be working hard on that over the next 12 months."

The high number of young black men going through Northamptonshire's court system who have become involved in county lines operations is clear on any visit to the crown court. Groups from the capital and other cities are shamelessly targeting vulnerable black teens to do their drug pushing for them in our county.

Mr Adderley wants to look into the reasons why they are targets and will ask the Institute for Public Safety, Crime and Justice at the University of Northampton to help him .

He said: "If I'm being really candid, if you're looking at our at-risk groups for criminality and our organised crime gangs they are predominantly young black males.

"By the time it gets to that stage, when they're in the system, it's too late.

"We have got to look backwards. These individuals are absolutely being targeted but why have they come into the system in the first place?

"At what point does it change for them? Over at the university on our people of interest board, out of 25 names, all bar three or four are young black men.

"I am going to ask the university to do some academic work on that. I would like nothing more to go back to the University of Northampton and see that board more equally balanced.

"I know it is very sensitive but we mustn't be frightened to say anything. We have to get over that."

Back in August last year, Mr Adderley hit the headlines - and even made a visit to the This Morning red sofa - after saying Northamptonshire Police would be the first force to arm all its officers with Tasers. Since then, he says uptake has been strong.

He said: "This was not a knee-jerk reaction

"I was Chief superintendent in Tameside in 2012 when PCs Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone were murdered by Dale Cregan. Fiona had time to draw her taser and I have played over and over what would have happened if that taser had made contact.

"There's a greater risk in not giving officers tasers than there is in giving them tasers.

"It wasn't really high on the government's agenda at the point we started talking about it but we lit that fire and we now have in the region of 367 officers who have completed the training.

"There are only five or six people who said they don't want to carry one.

"The Home Secretary stepped in and provided £10m so they're being funded from central government and not from our policing budget.

"We are seeing the seriousness of assaults on officers declining. Anecdotally, from officers, we're hearing that offenders don't want to go up against an officer with a taser."

READ PART ONE OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Northamptonshire was 'easy target' for county lines dealers