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Keep Calm and Carry on – There Is Nothing to See Here: A Study of Organisational Response Towards Racist Bullying and Harassment of BAME Women in Policing

Received: 14 October 2021    Accepted: 3 November 2021    Published: 10 November 2021
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Abstract

This article explores the neglected and under-researched area of bullying and harassment of Black and Asian Ethnic Minority (BAME) women in the police service in England. Undertaken within the context of an observed and unique crisis stemming from the high-profile case of bullying by the Home Secretary Rt Hon. Priti Patel towards her former Permanent Secretary, Sir Philip Rutnam and the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s reaction to it. This paper argues, that the turning of the tables by the Home Secretary and the fall-out from the investigation to it, could have adverse and unintended consequences for BAME women in UK policing. It is as this article argues a future mea-culpa moment waiting to happen underpinned by the political push back against the Black Lives Matters movement. A mixed method approach has been applied to this research including, interviews, data analysis of recently published figures, review of published literature and recent case studies. The article concludes that women of colour are one of the most vulnerable groups within the police. The challenges that they face within the organisation need to be recognised as they felt, their experiences were ignored and it undermined them as individuals. This was compounded by their negative experience of reporting instances of bullying and harassment.

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 10, Issue 6)
DOI 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.13
Page(s) 269-278
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Bullying, Harassment, BAME Women, Police, Race, Gender, Power, Home Secretary

References
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[2] Butler, J. (2004) Undoing Gender, London: Routledge.
[3] Camber, R (2020) Top Asian police officer launches £500k lawsuit against Scotland Yard after alleging she was told to keep quiet about a swastika at work. Daily Mail, 24 June. Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8457049/Top-female-Asian-police-officer-launches-500k-racism-lawsuit-against-Scotland-Yard.html (accessed 20 January 2021). Google Scholar.
[4] Cockroft, T (2013) Police Culture, Themes and Concepts, Oxon, Routledge.
[5] Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis v Ms C Howard (2014) Employment Tribunals Case no 2200184/2013& 2202916/2013. https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/et-howard.pdf (accessed 24 March 2021). Google Scholar.
[6] Cressida Dick referred to police watchdog over support for senior officer in bullying probe’, Martin Evans, The Telegraph, 20 August 2021.
[7] Findings of the Independent Advisor – Sir Alex Allan, 2020.
[8] Hill Collins, P (1990) Black Feminist Thought: knowledge consciousness and the politics of empowerment, Boston: Unwin Hyman 1990.
[9] House of Commons, Home Affairs Select Committee, House of Commons (2016) Police Diversity, First Report of Session HC27.
[10] IPCC Julia Mulligan bullying complaint upheld after inquiry, BBC News, 25 October 2018.
[11] Julia Mulligan appointed as Chair of the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales, 22 April 2021, Home Office.
[12] Lusher, A (2014) Black police officer wins her discrimination case against Metropolitan Police. The Independent, 2 July. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/black-police-officer-wins-her-discrimination-case-against-metropolitan-police-9577648.html (accessed 24 March 2021). Google Scholar.
[13] MacPherson of Cluny, Sir William (1999) The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry: Report of an Inquiry by Sir William MacPherson of Cluny. London: The Stationery Office.
[14] Mondon, A and Winter, A (2020) Reactionary democracy – How racism and the populist far right became mainstream, London, Verso.
[15] Morris, W., Burden, A. & Weekes, A. (2004) The Report of the Morris Inquiry. An independent inquiry into professional standards and employment matters, The Morris Inquiry, London.
[16] Ms C Howard v The Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis (1st September 2014) Employment Tribunals Case no 2200184/2013& 2202916/2013.
[17] North Yorkshire, police and crime commissioner Julia Mulligan hit with criticism over lack of ‘bullying’ measures, Stuart Minting, Yorkshire Post, 17th May 2019.
[18] Police watchdog Jennifer Izekor framed by Met officers’ for investigating racism, Tom Harper, The Sunday Times Harper, T. (3 March 2019).
[19] Paoline, E. A. (2003) Taking stock: towards a richer understanding of police culture’ journal of criminal justice, 31 (3): 199-214.
[20] PC Howard Employment Tribunal Judgement (2014) https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/et-howard.pdf (accessed 24 March 2021). Google Scholar.
[21] PCC Julia Mulligan bullying complaint upheld after inquiry, BBC News, 25 October 2018.
[22] Reiner, R. (2010) The politics of the police, Fourth Edition, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
[23] Rollock, N (2009) The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry 10 Years On: An Analysis of the Literature. London: The Runnymede Trust. Google Scholar.
[24] Silverman, E. (1999) NYPD Battle Crime: Innovative Strategies in Policing. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
[25] Sklansy, D. A. (2007) Seeing Blue: Police Reform, Occupational Culture, and Cognitive Burn-in, in Megan O'Neill, Monique Marks, Anne-Marie Singh (ed.) Police Occupational Culture (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Volume 8) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp. 19 – 45.
[26] Scotland Yard standards chief who was found guilty of misconduct over bullying allegations gets moved to ‘backroom job’ MailOnline, Glen Keogh and Steven Wright, 1 April 2021.
[27] Resignation statement of Sir Philip Rutnam, 29 February 2020.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Marina Hasan. (2021). Keep Calm and Carry on – There Is Nothing to See Here: A Study of Organisational Response Towards Racist Bullying and Harassment of BAME Women in Policing. Social Sciences, 10(6), 269-278. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.13

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    ACS Style

    Marina Hasan. Keep Calm and Carry on – There Is Nothing to See Here: A Study of Organisational Response Towards Racist Bullying and Harassment of BAME Women in Policing. Soc. Sci. 2021, 10(6), 269-278. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.13

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    AMA Style

    Marina Hasan. Keep Calm and Carry on – There Is Nothing to See Here: A Study of Organisational Response Towards Racist Bullying and Harassment of BAME Women in Policing. Soc Sci. 2021;10(6):269-278. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20211006.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ss.20211006.13,
      author = {Marina Hasan},
      title = {Keep Calm and Carry on – There Is Nothing to See Here: A Study of Organisational Response Towards Racist Bullying and Harassment of BAME Women in Policing},
      journal = {Social Sciences},
      volume = {10},
      number = {6},
      pages = {269-278},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20211006.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20211006.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20211006.13},
      abstract = {This article explores the neglected and under-researched area of bullying and harassment of Black and Asian Ethnic Minority (BAME) women in the police service in England. Undertaken within the context of an observed and unique crisis stemming from the high-profile case of bullying by the Home Secretary Rt Hon. Priti Patel towards her former Permanent Secretary, Sir Philip Rutnam and the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson’s reaction to it. This paper argues, that the turning of the tables by the Home Secretary and the fall-out from the investigation to it, could have adverse and unintended consequences for BAME women in UK policing. It is as this article argues a future mea-culpa moment waiting to happen underpinned by the political push back against the Black Lives Matters movement. A mixed method approach has been applied to this research including, interviews, data analysis of recently published figures, review of published literature and recent case studies. The article concludes that women of colour are one of the most vulnerable groups within the police. The challenges that they face within the organisation need to be recognised as they felt, their experiences were ignored and it undermined them as individuals. This was compounded by their negative experience of reporting instances of bullying and harassment.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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Author Information
  • Department of Arts, Design and Social Sciences Criminology and Policing, University of Northumbria, Newcastle, UK

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