The Mancunian Way: An institutional problem?

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“I just think we draw the distinction between those who let the side down and the mass,” said Chief Constable Stephen Watson during an interview with LBC Radio. He claimed - during a segment that has caused anger among many - that Greater Manchester Police is not institutionally racist. But it’s a conclusion that’s far from being universally accepted.

In fact, the chief constable’s comments have caused ‘trauma, anger and frustration’, as reporter Sophie Halle-Richards writes in this fascinating and detailed piece.

Mr Watson was being interviewed less than a month after Baroness Casey found the Metropolitan Police to be 'institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic'. He said he didn’t deem any UK police force to be institutionally racist and said the term had been ‘politicised in some circles.’

"It's certainly not a term that I would accept in respect of Greater Manchester Police because my sense of course is that institutionally we are against these behaviours, institutionally our values are designed to eradicate these behaviours and institutionally, if somebody is found guilty of behaving in these ways, we root them out and boot them out," he said.

"I think it's universally recognised – we have people in our ranks who ought not to be there who conduct themselves in a racist, homophobic - on and on goes the list. I just think we draw the distinction between those who let the side down and the mass."

GMP figures show black people are more than twice as likely to be stopped