“Have You Been Diversified Yet?” Developments in Police Community and Race Relations Training in England and Wales

For several decades, the police in England and Wales have been providing in-house training in community and ‘race relations’ (CRR). In recent years, largely in response to pressure from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, there has been an increase in the importance placed upon evaluating the effectiveness of this training. This article is based on findings of one such evaluation programme, carried out by the authors. Key features of police CRR training are outlined, and discussed in relation to criticisms of such training in the 1980s. It is argued that many of the concerns raised in that earlier period are still apparent today. A central reason why CRR training remains a problematic area is because it is different from most other police training in that it seeks to address the affective domain, rather than taking a cognitive approach, which presents challenges not found with police training in other fields. The article concludes by arguing that training strategy needs to consider the dynamic relation between structural and cultural dimensions of policing if significant improvements in community and race relations are to be made.