Policing by consent is not merely transactional. It’s relational.
Because of our reputation in the DEIB space, my organisation, Rockstone Consultancy, gets invited by different sectors to sit on different kinds of boards, focus groups, advisory panels and research forums, or to provide insight, training, talks and consulting, whether in the #public, #private, or #thirdsector. And yes, we have the capacity to leverage our qualifications, specialisations and lived experiences to deliver in all sectors with depth and excellence (and on time).
Recently, we were invited to Scotland Yard by the formidable #MET Commander, DAC Ade Adelekan, the NPCC National Lead for Stop and Search. Like a disease, the Stop and Search strategy affects black people in London at least three times as many more than everyone else, setting back the trust that is so needed for mutual ‘policing by consent’ to succeed.
One of the points I raised was that a fundamental and historical challenge with the MET’s discriminately over-policing is that many MET officers simply do not know our #Black and #Brown communities, and hence their intelligence is skewed and suspect. This points to the quality of training they are receiving and the professional managers’ obsession with reducing all contact with diverse communities (and efforts in showing any kind of progress) to numbers, to stats. You just cannot ignore intercultural, experiential knowledge and substitute it with numbers. We have to build trust. The MET has to listen! And that’s relational!
Following this meeting, I spent some time, courtesy of Inside Out Transformational Coaching Solutions (IOTC), with an amazing group of leading Londoners, being educated on the training, facilitation and talks provisions of the MET. Watch this space!
And while all of this is going on, I sit on a focus group of highly qualified academics to assess the overall picture of policing in London so that we do better for our communities.
I suppose this is part of the #socialjustice #activism in which I’m involved, whether through advocacy, direct action or law and policy reform. It is with this conviction that Rockstone Consultancy serves our various customers and why we’re so effective.
Thanks for your support.
Here’s the link to my original post about it on LinkedIn.