Police force spend £1,500 on ‘white privilege’ lecture

Cash-strapped police force is slammed for spending £1,500 on a ‘white privilege’ lecture for staff

  • West Midlands Police says it needs £40million to pay for an extra 500 officers 
  • They paid Dr Robert Beckford £1,500 to teach on ‘whiteness’ and ‘white identity’
  • Taxpayers Alliance slammed the force for not using resources wisely 

A cash-strapped police force has been criticised for spending £1,500 on a lecture about ‘white privilege’.

West Midlands Police, which says it desperately needs £40 million to pay for an extra 500 officers, hired Dr Robert Beckford to deliver the session for senior staff.

Dr Beckford, a professor of theology and culture at Canterbury Christ Church University, spoke about ‘whiteness’ and ‘white identity’ during the two-hour session at the force’s headquarters in Birmingham.

West Midlands Police, which says it needs £40 million to pay for an extra 500 officers, hired Dr Robert Beckford (pictured) to deliver a ‘white privilege’ session for senior staff

Attendees included Chief Constable David Thompson, who defended the decision to hold the lecture, which was paid for out of the force’s training budget.

He said: ‘I am aware some people feel this is about the police being obsessed with political correctness. It isn’t. It is a fundamental issue of fairness.

‘I will not shy away from challenging our force to be the best we can be – for everyone.’

Dr Beckford said the talk was entitled ‘What can we learn from critical whiteness studies?’


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‘I basically explored how that discipline may, or may not, have implications for policing,’ he told the Birmingham Mail.

‘My expertise is not within policing or criminology but I do teach students – and often people training for the ministry – to think about how their identities will impact on their professions.

‘In the case of the police it was much more of a conversation and therefore an opportunity for them to think about how this might impact on their work.

‘I can’t really say how this would impact on their work. I’m not a police officer. It was a conversation.’

West Midlands Police have come under fire for the ‘white privilege’ sessions that cost £1,500

Last month, it emerged that white male officers in West Midlands Police had been blocked from promotion to give women and ethnic minority candidates a better chance.

The force later ‘paused’ the application process after it was accused of discrimination by white officers.

The lecture comes after Mr Thompson said budget cuts meant the public sometimes did not get the service they expect.

West Midlands police and crime commissioner David Jamieson said it was an ‘inescapable conclusion’ that cuts to policing were endangering the public.

In October he wrote to Home Secretary Sajid Javid saying a funding boost of £42.2 million was needed to bolster officer ranks after violent crime increased by 60 percent in three years.

A report earlier this year by the National Audit Office said funding for West Midlands Police had been cut by 24 per cent in real terms – after inflation is taken into account – since 2010. 

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: ‘We often hear that police budgets are in desperate need of more funding, yet we are witnessing a growing trend towards policing free speech on the internet and an obsession with political correctness.

‘Taxpayers want their local police to focus their time and energy on tackling serious and violent crimes on the front line.

‘No organisation can claim to be ‘cut to the bone’ if they can then magically find thousands of pounds to spend on diversity training.’

Dr Beckford, a professor of theology and culture at Canterbury Christ Church University, spoke about ‘whiteness’ and ‘white identity’ during the two-hour session at the force’s headquarters in Birmingham (pictured) 

Mr Thompson said in a statement: ‘Professor Robert Beckford is a leading national academic who came to discuss the concept of Whiteness.

‘This is an established and researched academic subject that was used to invite senior leaders to discuss how our current demographics reflect how we work, and what we can do to create a fairer and more inclusive West Midlands Police.

‘It was an excellent and challenging input, funded from our training budget.

‘I am aware some people feel this is about the police being obsessed with political correctness. It isn’t. It is a fundamental issue of fairness.

‘Making sure we are fair to all our staff and communities is at the heart of what West Midlands Police needs to do.

‘I will not shy away from challenging our force to be the best we can be – for everyone.’  

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