Police Being ‘Hampered by Too Much Focus on Diversity, Equality and Inclusion’, Powerful Think-Tank Warns

Diversity programmes are costing police forces tens of millions of pounds a year, contributing to cases of ‘two-tier’ justice, a think-tank has suggested.

The Policy Exchange said the Nottingham stabbings, the Southport atrocity and the murder of Henry Nowak were examples where the State failed to properly deal with criminal behaviour due to concerns about being labelled racist.

It said the clamour for police chiefs to chase ‘an equality of outcomes’ amounted to a ‘rejection of policing’s duty to act without fear or favour and the implementation of two-tier policing’.

And it estimates that the amount spent on diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) activities by police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners since the murder of George Floyd in 2020 has cost at least £631million – enough to pay for thousands of frontline officers.

David Spencer, a former Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector and Policy Exchange’s head of crime and justice, said his report revealed ‘the astonishing cost of the police’s DEI obsession’.

He said: ‘Police forces have sought to entrench the radical ideology of “anti-racism” into British policing.

‘In doing so some police chiefs have set policing against its own foundational principle – to act “without fear or favour”.’

He said analysis suggested these policies were driven by police chiefs rather than by politicians.

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According to the report, police forces have been focussing more heavily on DEI measures since Mr Floyd, an unarmed black American man, was killed by a white police officer in America six years ago.

The think-tank suggested police forces across England and Wales are overly concerned about accusations of racism.

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‘They are very likely the result of the policy-making and decision-making which we show has taken place at the most senior levels of policing over recent years.’

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The report estimates forces have spent at least £631million on DEI measures and the Police Race Action Plan since 2020, based on extrapolated figures from five constabularies in England.

This includes an estimated £431million on the manpower costs of DEI training, £177million on jobs with a DEI element, and £23million on external training and consultancy.

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