Ending Two Tier Policing!
David Vance SubstackRead More
Did you see that Reform UK has sharpened its attack on what it calls “two-tier policing” with a bold new pledge: an incoming Reform government would pass an Equal Treatment Act within its first 100 days in office. Or at least try to do so.
Reform says the legislation would outlaw Police Race Action Plans and shut down all diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) schemes inside police forces. I would welcome all of this so we can get back to proper policing in good order
Of course this new proposal arrives directly in the aftermath of the Henry Nowak case, which has already fuelled a national row over bias and priorities in British policing. Reform makes the sensible argument that training officers through race‑specific action plans and DEI frameworks has created a culture in which some groups and ethnicities are treated more cautiously than others. This undermines the basic principle that the law should apply equally to everyone.
You can look upon the Equal Treatment Act as a welcome reset: a way to strip politics and identity from operational policing and force police chiefs back to a colour‑blind, behaviour‑based approach.
As best as I understand it, this Act would do three main things.
First, it would ban Police Race Action Plans, the national framework designed to improve outcomes for black communities in their dealings with the police.
Second, it would prohibit DEI practices in policing, ending dedicated diversity roles and training schemes that explicitly treat officers and the public differently according to protected characteristics.
Third, it would “remove any preferential treatment” in law, including existing exemptions for certain faith groups in relation to bladed articles—a move Reform links directly to public anger after Nowak’s killing.
Reform has set out a clear pitch and it is that the answer to policing’s current crisis is not more guidance, targets and workshops, but a ruthless insistence that the law – and the officers who enforce it – treat everyone the same, without exception.
