Tackling racially motivated crime
Part One - Chairman's Introduction
Chairman's Introduction,
Robert Hutley, LLB
Justices Chief Executive,
Devon and Cornwall Magistrates Courts Service and Chair of the Area Criminal Justice Liaison Committee's Race Issues Sub-Group
It's a great pleasure to see so many of you here today and to welcome you; some who have travelled a very great distance, and to see so many representatives from all the different organisations who have an interest and an investment in this topic today.
I am Robert Hutley, the Chief Executive of the Magistrates Courts Service for Devon and Cornwall and I must say it is a great relief for me to be here today, to get away from the controversy that we have been stirring up this week about Court House closures. The one thing that the press is not highlighting of course, are the strategies we have for creating a modern service over the next five years and one of the key components of that, the Magistrates Courts Service in Devon and Cornwall, will be improving access to justice, with a particular focus on equality of treatment for those who use our Courts and ensuring that our service sets an example in terms of eliminating institutional racism.
It is a great pleasure to be asked to Chair this conference in particular because, as Chair of the Race Issues Sub-Group of the Area Criminal Justice Liaison Committee, shortly to be re-created as the Area Criminal Justice Strategy Committee, I have had the pleasure of working with all the agencies in the criminal justice system to deal with Black and minority issues, so far as they impact upon the criminal justice system. It has been a great pleasure to see all the agencies struggling together to confront these issues; while recognising that we are very far from perfect, we are actually working very hard to address the problems.
The Stephen Lawrence murder and the inquiry that followed it has concentrated all our minds. It is not a Metropolitan Police issue; it is not a London issue; it's an issue for all agencies in the criminal justice system and we intend here in the South West to learn the lessons from the inquiry and to work together to improve matters for our communities. It is the easiest thing in the world for the people in Devon and Cornwall, and I hear it all too often, to say we don't have a problem here. Acknowledgement of that problem is the first step, but beyond that there is a lot of work to do.
The National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (NACRO) work with us as a Race Issues Sub-Group to identify some of the shortcomings and we are working together to exchange best practice and I certainly will be learning from the outcome of this conference and from your views today, about the way forward for the criminal justice system in Devon and Cornwall. The particular focus is, of course, racially motivated crime. It isn't just a problem for the cities; it's a problem for us as well.
It's a great pleasure to see a variety of speakers. As I was stuck in the traffic coming through Plymouth today, I was delighted to hear Mohammed Dhalech, his interview, and he underlined a lot of the themes of today's conference and it's nice to see that there is press and public interest in what's happening today. Can I thank all of you for travelling so far and, in particular, the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary for hosting this conference - I think that bodes very well. The commitment is of all agencies to addressing the problems we have.
So, without further ado, I can introduce the first of the impressive array of speakers that we have attracted here today to help us in our deliberations and to stimulate our thought processes, and the first is Josephine Dobry, a member of the Police Complaints Authority.
