Public Inquiries

I had followed Stephen Lawrence in the News of the past few months and one thing that kept standing out for me, the words 'MacPherson Report'. I began to think is there going to be another Review Board to find the new holes in the case, we all wait for this.

MacPherson along with other reviews have been called in recent years to improve the way Police and other services respond to cases in the future.

I did a little research about these reviews and how the Police, Social Services and others have failed in their roles in the past and how procedures have been put in place to stop these failings happening again.

MacPherson



Stephen Lawrence had his life tragically ended in April 1993 and the report was released almost six years later in February 1999. The main points raised was the 'INSTITUTIONAL RACISM' within the Met Police and policing in general, and improving British race relations that had been difficult for many years.

The report made 70 recommendations, here are few:

• Many were specifically aimed at improving police attitudes to racism and stressed the importance of a rapid increase in the numbers of black and Asian police officers.
• The government pledged to increase the number of officers from minority ethnic groups from around 2,500 to 8,000 by 2009.
• It also recommended that the double jeopardy rule should be abrogated in murder cases to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence; this became law in 2005. If there was no change then Dobson and Norris would not now be convicted.
•  The Met will review its scene-of-crime procedures, the way it records crimes, its internal inspections and liaison between uniformed officers and the CID.
•  Dedicated Family Liaison Officers must exist in every police force at local level. Any complaints or requests from a victim's family must be recorded.
• Revised first aid training for police officers. It was found that the first officers at the scene did not know adequate first aid and this is now vital for the ethos of Policing 'Save life and limb'.
• No change in the stop-and-search powers of the police. Records of all stop-and-search operations to be published, and a copy of the record given to the person involved.

A lot of trust had been lost or probably never gained in the Police Forces in the days where racism was almost common place. Police forces had to work hard over the following years to break down the barriers to understand further the religions and respects that our communities have.

I know that Police Forces now incorporate the Scarman, Laming and MacPherson Reports into the training and from experience I know that this is the first thing that is taught to many of the employees to make them understand the consequences.

Laming Report

 

In 2000, 8 year old Victoria Climbie who lived in London was tortured and murdered by her guardians.  Marie-Thérèse Kouao, who moved with Victoria from Ivory Coast, it is not knowing if the abuse was happening before Kouao met Carl Manning.
During the abuse, Climbié was burnt with cigarettes, tied up for periods of longer than 24 hours, and hit with bike chains, hammers and wires.

Before her death, many partners were involved with Victoria. The Police, Social Services from four authorities, NHS and NSPCC.

Due to the partners not identifying the abuse that was taking place, an inquiry was set up led by Lord Laming.

It was initially discovered numerous instances where Climbié could have been saved, noted that many of the organisations involved in her care were badly run, and discussed the racial aspects surrounding the case, as many of the participants were black.

Recommendations:

• Front Line NHS staff to get basic details from all children that come in, any details missing passed to relevant department.
• Notes of all injuries to be recorded and if concerns a second opinion is to found.
• Training should be undertaken to ensure inter-agency working practises are in place.
• Government to issue guidelines on impact of Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act on data sharing.
• Government to investigate creation of a national children’s database.
• A single electronic database must be used by all agencies that work with children.
• Before visiting a child, a social worker must check the information known about the child by other protection agencies. This implies the existence of a central case file.

 I could pick from a number of cases, above are two cases that affected the agencies involved the most.

Links to some more inquiries:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarman_report. Riots in the 1980s led to reform of the police. PC Blakelock lost his life in the Tottenham Riots 1985 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/07/tottenham-riot-broadwater-farm
2. Baby P - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Baby_P
3. Cullen Inquiry (Dunblane Shooting) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_Massacre
4. Phone Hacking - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leveson_Inquiry