Trikha, Sara
(2012)
Policing minority ethnic communities: a case study in London’s ‘Little India’.
PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science.
Abstract
The Macpherson Inquiry (1999) was instrumental in forcing into the public
domain the issue of police racism, which for decades had been an endemic
part of police culture. My thesis, undertaken post Macpherson (1999),
examined ongoing tensions in the policing of minority ethnic communities
through a case study of policing in London’s ‘Little India’. My thesis highlights
the continuing influence of racism in policing, describing a world of policing
ethnically diverse communities that is far more complex, variable and
contradictory than has yet been documented in the empirical policing
literature.
I describe how policing in Greenfield was a patchwork of continuity and
change, illustrating how, despite the advances the police in Greenfield had
made in eradicating overt racism from the organisation, passive prejudice
remained rife among officers. Most notably, despite acknowledging
Greenfield’s long resident Asian communities as the ‘indigenous population’,
officers still had little knowledge about these communities, tending to classify
them as ‘Asians’ in a way that obscured, rather than illuminated their
diversity. Furthermore, while officers regarded ‘Asians’ as the established
communities of Greenfield, new ‘problem populations’ - most notably
Somalis, Muslims and travellers - emerged, with officers tending to engage
with these communities in antagonistic ways, echoing themes from early
studies of race and policing.
Yet beneath this somewhat depressing overarching picture of policing, a
more complex, contradictory network of attitudes and practice emerged,
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encompassing both officers who were overtly hostile to ethnic diversity and
also examples of inspirational officers committed to reforming the policing of
minority ethnic communities. Having described policing in Greenfield, I
conclude by discussing the wider ramifications for police legitimacy and
democracy in Britain, arguing that until greater emphasis is placed on
ensuring that the police support the equitable principles of democracy, the
police in Greenfield and other areas will continue to fail the marginalised
people who most need their services.
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