Diversity training for cops 'a waste of time' says expert

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Forces should stop putting so much effort into training courses and return to "common sense," according to Dr John Coxhead, who worked for ten years as a liaison officer with gipsies and travellers.

Spending on diversity courses became a priority for forces after the Macpherson report into the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence accused forces of "institutional racism".

Scotland Yard has said it spends £5million a year on community and race relations courses.

But Dr Coxhead, a sergeant in the Derbyshire force, said: "Preoccupation with training often takes the place of work application.

"A lot of emphasis has been placed on diversity training, but is it really what matters?

"Training is not the sole answer to racism. Diversity training can be a self-feeding monster."

Tackling discrimination depends on "what people do, not what they learn in the classroom once a year. It is about what they do on a day-to-day basis."

Dr Coxhead has written a doctoral thesis on attitudes to travellers.