Police forces spent eye-watering £631m on diversity and equality since murder of George Floyd, says report

NewsPolitics Credit: Getty POLICE forces have spent a whopping £631million on diversity, equality and inclusion programmes since the murder of George Floyd, according to a new report. The cash could have funded around 2,000 extra frontline officers every year or 8.3 million hours of policing, according to Policy Exchange. Police forces have spent a whopping £631million on diversity, equality and inclusion programmes since the murder of George Floyd Credit: Getty Two Hampshire officers were placed under investigation over the death of Henry Nowak Credit: PA The think tank says the spending came after the introduction of a national Police Race Action Plan after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in 2020, with nearly three-quarters of UK forces later adopting their own local versions. It found 87 per cent of forces now have “anti-racist” commitments in their plans, while 58 per cent focus primarily on Black communities. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! Policy Exchange says the changes have eroded the principle of policing “without fear or favour” and left officers at risk of treating people differently based on their race. It comes after two Hampshire officers were placed under investigation over the death of Henry Nowak, who was handcuffed as he lay dying after his killer falsely accused him of carrying out a racist attack. David Spencer, a former Metropolitan Police detective chief inspector and the report’s author, said: “Police forces have sought to entrench the radical ideology of ‘anti-racism’ into British policing. “In doing so some police chiefs have set policing against its own foundational principle – to act ‘without fear or favour’.” Chief Constable Rachel Kearton, chair of the NPCC’s Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Committee, insisted the spending represented “a very small proportion” of the policing budget. She added: “Improving culture and inclusion is not separate from frontline delivery, it underpins it. Most read in The Sun Investment in this area also supports forces in meeting their legal responsibilities.”