''The Secret Policeman'' is a documentary about an undercover reporter that reveals racism among police recruits in

Manchester, England Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. It was screened by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in October 2003. It was filmed by Mark Daly, an investigative journalist, who joined the Greater Manchester Police Service and spent several months undercover at the Bruche National Training Centre in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

. He filmed episodes of racist behaviour among some recruits and their trainers.

Bruche National Training Centre

Bruche National Training Centre,

, was operational between 1946 and May 2006. The facility provided initial training to new police officers.

Police training

In 2002, a "Training Matters Report" by

Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), formerly Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), has statutory responsibility for the inspection of the police forces of England and Wales, and since ...

(HMI) indicated that police training was not fit for purpose. The principal concern of the report was that police officers were not given enough training regarding the policing of diverse communities. The report was influenced by the findings of the "Macpherson Report". The training of police officers had already begun a restructuring process prior to the broadcast of ''The Secret Policeman.'' The documentary sparked further restructuring which led to the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP), which was implemented by the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

in April 2005.

Macpherson Report

The initial scope of the Macpherson inquiry was the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. However, it later expanded into a broader examination of racism within the police service, defining the term "

institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organizati ...

" as "the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people".

The documentary

On 27 January 2003, Mark Daly, an undercover journalist, joined the Greater Manchester Police Service (GMP) to investigate racism within the police service. In the previous year, the Chief Constable had said that his police force was "institutionally racist". Most of the filming was completed during fifteen weeks of training at Bruche and it exposed racism among some of the police officers. PC Rob Pulling from North Wales Police was captured on film stating that Stephen Lawrence "deserved it", his parents were "spongers" and that the murders granted "diplomatic immunity". He further stated that he would, "bury an Asian under the train track". Additionally, he wore a pillowcase over his head and pretended to be a member of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

. Furthermore, he admitted to engaging in an unprovoked attack on an Asian man. In addition to PC Pulling, the other police officers exposed during the filming were PC Keith Cheshire,

North Wales Police North Wales Police () is the territorial police force responsible for policing North Wales. Its headquarters are in Colwyn Bay. , the force has 1,510 police officers, 170 special constables, 182 police community support officers (PCSO), 71 p ...

, PC Andy Hall, PC Carl Jones, PC Tony Lewin, PC Adrian Harrison, PC Andy Turley, GMP, and PC Steve Salkeld,

Cheshire Police Cheshire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Cheshire in North West England, comprising the unitary authorities of Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Borough of Halton and Borough ...

. On 21 October 2003, the documentary was broadcast and made national headlines.

David Blunkett David Blunkett, Baron Blunkett, (born 6 June 1947) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Employment from 1997 to 2001, Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004 and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in 2005. ...

, the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, more commonly known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom and the head of the Home Office. The position is a Great Office of State, maki ...

, and various senior police officers condemned the racist behaviour of the police officers exposed as a result of the documentary. However, there were criticisms about the use of undercover journalism to study the topic.

Resignations

After the broadcast, ten police officers resigned, twelve police officers were disciplined and three police trainers were removed from their positions.

Arrest of Mark Daly

Mark Daly continued as a police officer after his training at Bruche, and worked at the Hazel Grove Police Station in Stockport. In August 2003, GMP received an anonymous tip-off about the documentary and he was arrested on his way to work. The GMP accused him of " obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception" because he had claimed a police-constable salary whilst working undercover. The

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

found that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with the prosecution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Secret_Policeman Greater Manchester Police Police misconduct in England Racism in the United Kingdom