Senior police officers have called for the head of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) to stand down, after he suggested that officers are thought of as “uneducated, unenlightened and socially backward”.
In an article for The Times last week, Trevor Phillips wrote that “most liberal-minded folk” would compare police officers with football hooligans and supporters of the British National Party.
Rick Naylor, president of the Superintendents’ Association, said Phillips’ comments were particularly inappropriate as the CRE is carrying out an investigation into racism in the service.
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“We believe Trevor Phillips has insulted more than 100,000 honest, hardworking police officers with his comments,” he told Police Review magazine. “He is using blatant, bigoted stereotyping – exactly what he urges us to root out of the service. We have no confidence in Phillips remaining as chairman of the CRE, and call for him to stand down.”
Phillips claimed the comments were intended as criticism of “some rather snobbish folk who wrongly brand all police officers as racist”.
