Conclusion

An underlying theme of this book has been to explore the extent to which the agenda for police reform set out in the Lawrence Report has had an impact on relations between the police and minority ethnic communities. At the time of the publication of the report, many of those vociferous in demanding change expressed reservations that the recommendations it contained would not be properly implemented and that real reform would not be forthcoming. That much of the broader social and policing agenda outlined in the earlier Scarman Report had not been fulfilled produced some scepticism about the impact that the Lawrence Inquiry findings might have. While many elite voices claimed that Macpherson’s Report amounted to a ‘watershed’ in British race relations (Solomos, 1999), it was noted by others that had Scarman’s vision been realised, the failings uncovered in relation to the murder of Stephen Lawrence might never have occurred. During the parliamentary debate that followed publication of the report, Bernie Grant, MP for Tottenham who had became a controversial critic of the police in the wake of the Broadwater Farm disorders in 1985, observed (Hansard, 24 Feb 1999: Column 399):

We have been here before. I remember being very optimistic in 1981, after the Scarman inquiry. We thought that it was a watershed and that things would change, but 18 years later – I have read both reports – we are back to almost the same recommendations that the Scarman inquiry made. This is a last chance for British society to tackle racism and to push for racial equality. The black community is giving British society a last chance.