UK Policing Minister Sarah Jones said Wednesday that a National Police Chiefs’ Council anti-racism guidance document “gives the wrong impression” and is being reviewed, as the government faced intensified scrutiny over police treatment of Black victims following the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak.
MSI previously reported on the wider claims of unequal policing in the UK that emerged after bodycam footage showed the fatal stabbing of the Black student and his arrest by Hampshire Police.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme and BBC Breakfast, Jones said the NPCC’s “Police Anti-Racism Commitment” — a short values document developed last year in response to the organization’s 2022 Police Race Action Plan — does not form the basis of training or police activity. “We think the language is wrong and it gives the wrong impression but I don’t think it affects how our training is done,” Jones said.
The NPCC document states its goal of “producing equality of policing outcomes” for people from different ethnic groups “does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality).” Jones said the document is “being reviewed.”
The controversy erupted after bodycam footage from the December incident became public. The footage shows officers handcuffing Nowak — an 18-year-old student from Chafford Hundred in Essex — as he said “I can’t breathe” multiple times. In the footage, an officer asked Nowak, “You’ve been stabbed, whereabouts?” before adding, “Don’t think you have, mate.” Nowak, who appeared unresponsive, was told he was being arrested for assault.
His attacker, Vickrum Digwa, had lied by claiming he was a victim of a racist attack after stabbing Nowak as he walked back to his student accommodation in Southampton. On Monday, Judge William Mousley KC sentenced Digwa to life in prison with a minimum of 21 years. The judge said no matter how quickly Nowak had received medical treatment, he would not have survived because of the nature of his injuries.
Speaking outside court, Nowak’s father Mark said his son “did not die with dignity.”
Three of the officers involved remain serving with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary; one has resigned, a spokesperson said. Donna Jones, the police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, has requested a review of the force’s control room culture and officer training for stabbing responses.
Hundreds of people protesting the police handling of the case clashed with officers in Southampton on Tuesday evening. Jones confirmed two people were arrested.
The minister acknowledged the broader context of racial disparities in UK policing. “The black community are the least confident in our policing in the country, they are under represented in the police workforce and they are more likely to be subjects of police use of force, so we need to acknowledge that and that is an important part of training,” she told BBC Breakfast.
Jones said police training includes an element on the “long history of racism in policing.” Asked if that training had a bearing on what happened to Nowak, Jones said she did not know and said it was part of the IOPC investigation.
Separately, Digwa’s father Moga Singh, 52, and brother Gurpreet, 27, appeared in court Tuesday afternoon on weapons charges and were released on unconditional bail. His mother Kiran Kaur, 53, was previously found guilty of assisting an offender after attempting to hide the blade used in the attack. She is scheduled to be sentenced on July 17.