Born locally and a former student at Newham College, police chief Richard Tucker is acutely aware of the problems facing the borough as people emerge from the Covid-19 emergency.

“I want to be open and honest and I’m in favour of complete transparency,” he told Newham Voices in an exclusive interview in which he discussed the crisis of gang violence, stop and search, and the sometimes difficult relationship between police and the community.

But with just 16 per cent of his 1,350 police officers of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) origin, Detective Chief Superintendent Tucker faces a major task in building public confidence.

The Black Lives Matter movement and demonstrations on the streets of Newham are having an impact, he said. With the Independent Office for Police Conduct set to investigate discrimination across the force, Tucker is aware of a major shift in what is considered acceptable following the death of George Floyd in the United States.

Challenging our thinking

“It’s challenging our thinking, and this is a good thing. I say to young cops I don’t want you thinking this year the same way you were thinking last year. Things have changed.”

To improve representation of people from BAME origins in the force he is targeting recruitment and awareness-raising at colleges and schools.

“Newham police do not represent the cultural mix of the borough,” he said, “but we aim to change that.” He points to the last batch of 32 recruits, including 13 women, and a third of them Black, Asian and ethnic minority origin.

“We are doing everything we can to encourage people from minority groups to join,” he said, but barriers remain in an area where, historically, people have shown reluctance.

For many young Black people that uncertainty is reinforced by the frustration and anger they feel at the stop and search policy which appears to be targeting them unfairly.

“This work is about keeping people alive,” Tucker responds.

“We have had three shotguns taken off the streets in the last seven days as a result of stop and search.”

Stop and search is focused on areas with high levels of gang activity. “We stop a lot of black children and young black men,” he said, “because this is the high risk group.”

Around 75 per cent of young people under 25 in Newham are Black or ethnic minority in origin, a community that includes victims of violent crime as well as perpetrators. He points to the high number of violent deaths of Black youngsters.

“We have to identify which groups are most at risk and often these are people from similar social conditions,” he said, “with poor housing, chaotic family circumstances, siblings in prison, drug dealing, and often a mother not present.”

Nevertheless, it is hard to deny accusations of profiling when looking at the numbers – of every 100 people stopped, only 9 per cent are arrested, usually for possession of a weapon or drugs; a further 11 per cent may receive warnings about their behaviour, leaving some 80 per cent “who feel aggrieved”, in Tucker’s words.

“We have to explain it better. Sometimes we are too robust, but now police have body cameras, numbers on uniforms and there is CCTV everywhere. We are accountable.

“We have got our faults, and we have made some real howlers over the years. But we are focused on where the problems are and the best way to solve them.”

While acknowledging the importance of issues including institutionalised racism highlighted in the Macpherson Report into the case of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, he complains of a combative public narrative over policing.

He wants to see an end to the ‘us and them’ mentality. “We are perceived by some in the community as oppressors rather than guardians of the people and some of our people are accused of racism, something that is abhorrent to them,” he said.

Going forward, Tucker will emphasise work with schools, local youth groups, charities, and colleges, including the University of East London, to promote police work as a career. He encourages officers to talk about their work in schools. “Shouldn’t the first interaction with police be a positive one?” he asks.

Tucker has high hopes for what can be achieved by bringing the police and the community together, but unless there is a swift turn around in those stop and search figures, accusations of profiling and bias will be hard to rebuff.

“My biggest goal is to get our story over to everyone in the community,” he says. “We need cops to have empathy, and we need people to understand how we work.”

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