Race guidance for police in England and Wales is likely to change following the murder of a white schoolboy in December who was handcuffed by officers after he had been stabbed by a Sikh with a ceremonial blade.
Forces are preparing for violence on the streets after body camera video was released showing the final moments of Henry Nowak’s life. There were 11 officers injured during violent protests at the scene of his death in Southampton, southern England, on Tuesday night.
Video showed that officers first assumed Mr Nowak was a suspect after his attacker, Vickrum Digwa, alleged the 18-year-old had attack him.
The video shows officers handcuffing Mr Nowak after Digwa’s allegation despite his four stab wounds, including once in the heart.
Mr Nowak repeatedly told officers “I can’t breathe” and “I’ve been stabbed”, to which an officer replied: “Don’t think you have, mate.” When officers finally realised his condition they removed the handcuffs and conducted emergency treatment but could not save him.
On June 1, Digwa, 23, was jailed for a minimum of 21 years for stabbing Mr Nowak with a 21cm Kirpan ceremonial knife, carried as part of the Sikh religion
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had stated there were “serious questions” about how allegations of racism influenced police decision-making in the case.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has also announced it will review antiracism guidance known as the “race action plan” but that critics say may have contributed to officers placing excessive weight on racial allegations.
Focus has been put on the guidance wording that says officers should respond to people according to their “specific needs, circumstances and experiences” and that policing should not be “colour blind”.
Farage rage
Tensions have been stoked in England with the Reform party’s hard-right leader Nigel Farage stating that people should react with “pure cold rage” over the police decision to treat a racial slur more seriously than murder.
Far-right campaigners such as Tommy Robinson flocked to Southampton, where several arrests were made following disturbances on Wednesday.
The government has urged for calm over fears that the situation could result in a repeat of the race riots that gripped Britain following the Southport murders of three white girls by a man of African heritage in 2024.
Minister of State at the Home Office Sarah Jones said she understood the anger the case provoked but urged people not to “overreact” and acknowledged that some wording in the police’s race action plan was “wrong”.
“I think it's right that they are reviewing this and looking at the language of this particular document,” she told the BBC. “It is being reviewed. We think the language is wrong. It gives the wrong impression.”
NPCC chairman Gavin Stephens also said he was listening to legitimate concerns about how the training is “worded or phrased” adding that “where needed we can and will make changes”.
Febrile politics
There were widespread jeers from MPs at Mr Farage’s remarks made in parliament on Wednesday in which he accused the government of encouraging “two-tier policing” in that it was “clear and written down you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways”.
He added that the situation in the country was “in danger of getting considerably worse if the public loses trust in being treated fairly by the police”.
Mr Starmer told him that Mr Nowak’s family had asked for politicians not to exploit their son’s murder adding that Mr Farage’s response was “to appeal for rage” while “exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division”.
The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has called for the government to “sweep out a lot of the historic, incoherent nonsense” in police training that had been brought in “under the guise of antiracism”. She also said police should not treat people based on the colour of their skin.
The atmosphere could also become more politically charged with the Makerfield by-election in Greater Manchester on June 18, which if Labour’s Andy Burnham wins could lead to a challenger against Mr Starmer as party leader, but he needs to overcome a strong Reform vote.
The case has also sparked discussion about what Mr Farage has referred to as “two-tier policing” and religious exemptions for Sikh ceremonial blades.
