MacAskill's 'no police racism' claim angers boy's mother

Published on Monday 1 June 2009 22:06

JUSTICE secretary Kenny MacAskill came under fire from the mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence yesterday after saying there was no racism in the police.

Scots police forces had become more ethnic minority-friendly since an inquiry called them "institutionally racist" a decade ago, he claimed.

Stephen Lawrence, 18, was stabbed to death by a gang of racist youths while waiting at a bus stop in London in 1993.

His killers have never been brought to justice and the subsequent inquiry exposed deep prejudices in the police and other authorities.

New figures show 1.1 per cent of police officers in Scotland declared themselves as black or minority ethnic. That proportion has increased in recent years but there continues to be no ethnic minority officers within senior police ranks.

But Mr MacAskill told the SemperScotland conference that "institutional racism does not exist in the police service in Scotland – of that I'm sure".

Mr Lawrence's mother, Doreen, said Mr MacAskill "must acknowledge" discrimination against ethnic minority communities in the police.

"The minister does not seem to understand that," she said.