Police chief warns anti-white bias claims could drive UK policing ‘back to 60s’

Policing could be driven back to the 1960s by false claims officers are biased against white people, the leader of Britain’s black officers has said. Ch Insp Andy George, president of the National Black Police Association, spoke out amid growing concerns that politicians such as Nigel Farage were stoking tensions around the murder of teenager Henry Nowak by making baseless and provocative claims. Senior figures in policing were among those who pushed back against his assertion that the handcuffing of Nowak by officers in Southampton last December after he had been stabbed amounted to two-tier policing and a bias against white people. They also denounced Farage for saying the response to the killing demanded “cold rage” . Keir Starmer accused the Reform UK leader of ignoring the wishes of the dead teenager’s family and called the Reform leader’s actions “unforgivable”. Nowak’s father Mark had condemned the “inhumane and degrading” treatment of his son by police. But he added: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to help make our streets safer for everyone.” Hampshire’s chief constable Alexis Boon, whose officers are under scrutiny over the way they dealt with the incident, on Wednesday apologised for the way Nowak had been arrested and handcuffed . …