Meeting focused on police and the black community working together in Sheffeld

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, met with black community leaders and black professionals to discuss their perspective on how policing, criminal justice and council services could improve and better engage with them.

The meeting explored what the police can learn directly from the experience of the black community and how police and community can work better together.

The two hour long Zoom chat, which was chaired by Rob Cotterell, Chair of Sheffield and District African Caribbean Community Association (SADACCA), involved members of the black community within Sheffield, the Police and Crime Commissioner and members of his office along with cabinet member for communities and neighbourhoods, Councillor Paul Wood.

Dr Billings was asked about stop and search statistics and what training was provided to officers. He acknowledged there was disproportionality measured against 2011 data, and said this was something he had asked his Independent Ethics Panel to keep under review.

The participants also discussed how the police recruited ethnic minorities and the involvement of more black people in scrutiny panels that looked at the work of the police in areas of public interest such as stop and search.

Dr Billings said: “Since the death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests that happened around the world, I have wanted to meet with those involved to see if we can use this time to make a real difference to the relationships between the police and the black community.

“Everyone agreed that we didn’t want to be back here again in a few years’ time going over the same ground.

“We discussed the culture of policing and the difficult, though crucial, question of unconscious bias. Unwittingly treating people differently because of the colour of their skin is something we are all prone to do, but we do need to recognise this if unconscious bias is to be eliminated.”

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