Police officers have been told to avoid terms like “black sheep” and learn about “white fragility” in a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion reference guide at three constabularies. The Telegraph has the story.
A nine-page document, seen by the Telegraph, was published online in 2023 in a diversity, equality and inclusion reference guide for staff at Bedfordshire Police and Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire constabularies.
It stated that “pregnant person” should be used instead of references to pregnant women and “Christian-centric” language like the term “faith” should be avoided.
The “reference resource for staff and officers” describes gender as “a social construct relating to behaviours and attributes”, adding: “There is a wider range of gender identities than just male and female.”
In one section, officers are advised to watch a video on BBC Bitesize, an education website for GCSE students, “to understand the difference between” the terms “non-racist” and “anti-racist”.
Officers are also made aware of the concept of “white fragility”, defined in the document as “a state in which some white people are unable to cope with or process the information they receive about racism”.
Although people may react angrily or defensively to this topic, “it is important to understand white fragility as this can derail open conversations about race”, it adds.
Police are also reminded to avoid generalisations like older people being grumpy and boring and women in their 50s being menopausal.
At one point, it is suggested that the term “mature adult” not be used as it implies that “younger people” cannot be mature.
Festus Akinbusoye, the U.K.’s first black Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) and former PCC for Bedfordshire Constabulary, has labelled the guidance “utterly mad”.
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