MINELRES: Justice Initiative: Study Tour on Ethnic Profiling Launched in United Kingdom
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Wed Apr 25 21:11:55 2007
Original sender: Justice Initiative <[email protected]>
Open Society Justice Initiative
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STUDY TOUR ON ETHNIC PROFILING LAUNCHED IN UNITED KINGDOM
London, April 23, 2007
The Open Society Justice Initiative's STEPSS ("Strategies for Effective
Police Stop and Search") project today launched its Study Tour on Ethnic
Profiling, which will examine the impact of police stops and searches on
ethnic minorities. The study tour brings together police officers,
minority community representatives, and advocates from Bulgaria,
Hungary, Spain, and the United Kingdom for a week-long review of
existing practices and policies on recording and monitoring stops and
searches and determining their disproportionate impact on ethnic
minority communities. The members of the STEPSS UK Study Tour will also
explore ways to improve the dialogue between police and minority
communities. Study Tour participants will meet with representatives from
the Home Office of England and Wales, the Metropolitan Police Service,
the Leicester Constabulary, and community representatives in both London
and Leicestershire.
The STEPSS project is an innovative three-country project, supported by
the European Commission's AGIS Programme, that addresses ethnic
profiling through the improvement of police training, operational and
legal guidance, and the supervision of ID checks, stops and searches;
the creation of a monitoring system that enhances police management and
accountability of stops; an increased capacity of minority communities
to participate in dialogue with the police and set local policing
priorities; and the generation of replicable models of good practice
that can be disseminated regionally. Project partners include the Center
for the Study of Democracy and the Ministry of the Interior (Bulgaria);
the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the National Police College, the Sixth
District Police, the Szeged and Kaposvar police forces (Hungary); Gea21,
the municipal police forces of Fuenlabrada and Girona, the Escola de
Policia de Catalunya, and the Madrid Police Academy (Spain); the Home
Office of England and Wales, Metropolitan Police Service of London, and
Leicestershire Constabulary (United Kingdom); and the Open Society
Justice Initiative.
STEPSS partners will use lessons learned during the Study Tour to
develop: guidelines that direct police in how to use their stop powers,
a monitoring tool for recording stops and searches, and training
programs for both. The partners will monitor stops and searches in the
pilot sites in each country during a six-month period, during which time
community representatives will help assess officers' compliance with the
monitoring. The analysis of the data collected will be conducted in
partnership with civil society and/or academic partners.
The STEPSS project builds on previous quantitative and qualitative work
carried out by the Justice Initiative and its partners, presented in the
recently published report "I Can Stop and Search Whoever I Want". Police
Stops of Ethnic Minorities in Bulgaria, Hungary and Spain (available at
www.justiceinitiative.org). It is one example of the Justice
Initiative's multi-pronged approach to addressing ethnic profiling in
Europe, which also includes research, information-sharing and advocacy
at the regional and international levels.
Contact: Rachel Neild: +1 518 429 6899 (Washington DC)
Rebekah Delsol +44 78 8758 2462 (London)
The URL for this page is:
http://www.justiceinitiative.org/db/resource2?res_id=103751
___________________
The Open Society Justice Initiative, an operational program of the Open
Society Institute , pursues law reform activities grounded in the
protection of human rights, and contributes to the development of legal
capacity for open societies worldwide. The Justice Initiative combines
litigation, legal advocacy, technical assistance, and the dissemination
of knowledge to secure advances in the following priority areas:
national criminal justice, international justice, freedom of information
and expression, and equality and citizenship. Its offices are in Abuja,
Budapest, and New York.
www.justiceinitiative.org
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