Parliamentary q&a and figures on deaths in police custody

About this item

This document presents a parliamentary question and answer session from March 1996 focusing on deaths in police custody within the Metropolitan Police District, including data broken down by ethnic origin. It also includes official figures on reported racial incidents and police stop-and-search statistics from the early to mid-1990s. These records provide insight into concerns about racial disparities and the accountability of policing practices during that period.

Key points:
– Between 1990 and 1996, deaths in police custody in the Metropolitan Police District were recorded and broken down by ethnicity.
– Increases in reported racial incidents across various police forces between 1993-94 and 1994-95 were partly attributed to improved recording practices and efforts to encourage reporting.
– The government introduced policies aimed at applying compulsory competitive tendering to police information systems and services, while considering operational security.
– The document contains detailed statistical tables for numerous police forces on racial incidents, stop-and-search figures, and categorisations by ethnic groups.
– The term 'racial incident' is defined according to the Association of Chief Police Officers as any incident where racial motivation is alleged or suspected.

This parliamentary exchange reflects contested issues central to Black British political activism, including the campaign against oppressive policing and institutional racism that Bernie Grant championed. The focus on racialized deaths in custody and policing practices aligns with broader anti-racist demands for accountability, transparency, and reform within law enforcement—matters critical to Black British communities in the 1990s.

Source note: The OCR transcript contains some minor transcription errors and formatting inconsistencies typical of scanned documents from this period, which may affect full numeric precision. However, the overall data and key themes remain clear.