Police ça Change? Cressida Dick, Institutional Racism and the Metropolitan Police

This article considers the recent resignation of Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, and places this event within the context of ongoing attempts to address institutional racism in the police. The article argues that successive police commissioners have publicly supported tackling institutional racism while maintaining serious reservations about the concept and, in the case of Dick, ultimately rejecting it. It goes on to show that Dick's record on tackling institutional racism has been partial and contradictory, focussing on recruitment of ethnic minorities whilst simultaneously increasing use of stop and search tactics. Institutional racism, I argue, is a useful, but frequently misunderstood concept. Institutional reform, however, is possible if we recognise that everyday individuals actively create and maintain institutions, which is to be contrasted with the conventional approach to institutional reform where it is the institution that moulds or reforms the individual. As such, reforming the police requires starting at the bottom as well as the top.