Police use force against black people five times more than people who are white

Police are five times more likely to use force against black people than white people, new government figures show.Police are five times more likely to use force against black people than white people, new government figures show.

Data from the Home Office show police in England and Wales used force tactics at a rate of 90 per 10,000 white people but 450 per 10,000 black people in 2018/19.

During that time frame officers used tactics such as handcuffing, other restraint, use of batons, irritant sprays, tasers and firearms a total of 630,793 times.Of those, 447,337 tactics were used against white people and 94,222 were against those who were black.

But based on the local population it shows the figure is five times higher for black people.The gap was biggest in Dorset where 10,254 tactics were used against white people and 743 against those who are black.Nationally, the gap was even bigger for some types of tactics.

Related: Global protests over killing of George Floyd (Reuters)The news comes as the death of George Floyd in the US and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests in the UK has raised concerns that black people here are also discriminated against by police.

In an article calling on the Government to learn lessons from the response to George Floyd’s death, MP Diane Abbott said British observers shouldn’t console themselves that the same couldn’t happen here, adding: “Black people suffer disproportionately from the police use of force”.

Rebecca Hilsenrath, chief executive at the Equality and Human Rights Commission, said: “These figures are extremely worrying and need to be answered.

“We appreciate the need for effective policing to ensure safe communities. But we know that both adults and children from some ethnic minorities experience disproportionate levels of force by police – sometimes with very serious consequences.

“We have continuously called on police forces, the Home Office and Police and Crime Commissioners to not only retain but also build on protections designed to promote fair and equal policing.

More must be done now to understand and address unequal treatment, and tackle the root causes of racial inequality across the criminal justice system.

“We have also repeatedly called for a comprehensive race equality strategy. We need the government to take urgent action so that ethnic minorities do not continue to suffer unfair treatment or punishment.

”The figures, which also used additional data released following a Freedom of Information request, also showed factors that impact police decisions to use force also appear to be different depending on perceived ethnicity.

The most common factors when dealing with white people was alcohol (in 45.5% of incidents).But in black people it was size, gender, or build in 38.3% of incidents compared to just 28.5% in people who are white.

Police officers were also slightly more likely to say they used force to protect themselves in incidents involving black people (in 75.5% of incidents) than with those who are white (67.9%).However, the figures suggest in the 21,868 incidents where an officer reported an injury, incidents involving black people were slightly less likely to result in staff injury - 5% of incidents compared to 5.3% of incidents involving those who were white.

Those injuries were much less likely to be received as the result of an intentional assault.In incidents where the person was black, 45.3% of injuries were from assaults, compared to 52.3% in incidents involving white people.

An incident is logged for each time an officer uses force against an individual, so if there is an occasion where several officers and/or several subjects are involved then multiple reports may be filed.

Reference: The Mirror: Claire Miller & Lorraine King 7 hrs ago June 5th 2020