28/01/2014 Session
Acknowledging that a problem exists is the first step towards its solution. That is why the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today called on European governments to have the "courage" to acknowledge the existence of racism in the police with a view to addressing it.
According to the resolution adopted, no institution appears immune to racism and the police is no exception. "Racism can be present in the attitudes or behaviour of police officers, in their interaction with the population or with other officers. It can also be found in rules and regulations applied by the police".
The resolution, which is based on a report by David Davies (United Kingdom, EDG), considers that "there can be no impunity for manifestations of racism within or by the police and police officers must be held accountable individually for their behaviour. "Few Council of Europe member States have established independent police complaints mechanisms. "Effective and independent investigations of racist crimes should be conducted and treated as a priority in order to maintain trust in the police and to encourage reporting of such crimes" the resolution underlines.
The Assembly proposed that European governments take a number of measures to prevent racial discrimination and prohibit racial profiling. These include reviewing existing legislation and police practices so as to identify and modify those that might have a racist connotation; establishing independent police complaints mechanisms where they do not yet exist; ensuring that police officers wear a visible form of identification at all times and filling out of stop forms following identity checks and searches.
Mr Davies' report studies practices in a number of member States, including Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom.