How government should respond to the killing of Henry Nowak

The police bodycam footage of Henry Nowak is harrowing and deeply disturbing. Henry, an 18-year-old white student, lies on the ground mortally wounded while an officer casually dismisses his cries for help and arrests him for a racially aggravated assault that his Sikh killer, Vickram Digwa, had fabricated. The case has undermined trust in the police service, sparked a bitter debate about so-called ‘two-tier policing’ – and led to scenes of appalling violence in Southampton, where the murder took place last December.

When such dreadful events happen there is a temptation to seek immediate answers and reach for quick policy solutions. In the face of an outpouring of grief and anger, the government comes under intense pressure to “act” – particularly from its political opponents. The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said it must be a “seminal moment for Britain on a par with the murder of Stephen Lawrence”, the black teenager fatally stabbed in a racist attack in 1993. For Reform UK, Nigel Farage called for people to respond with “pure, cold rage” and end a “culture of fear that puts minority lives on top and white ones at the bottom”. What ministers really need, however, is space and time to make the right decisions. 

The impact of all police anti-racism advice, policies and training should be reviewed

Some of those decisions will hinge on the outcome of the investigation into the police’s handling of the incident. It’s clear from the publicly available footage that officers completely misjudged the situation. But why they did so is a question that can be answered only by watching all the videos, listening to control room recordings and speaking to everyone involved – a task for the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). Sentencing Digwa after the trial, Judge William Mousley KC ¹³ https://www.judiciary.uk/judgments/r-v-vickrum-singh-digwa/  said the police had been forced to make “quick decisions in pressurised circumstances” after being given a “convincing but wholly false narrative” of what had occurred. The judge was in a good position to assess the incident, but the IOPC will have access to more material and must look through the lens of what a police officer is expected, required and trained to do. The watchdog has the power to bring misconduct proceedings and to refer cases to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider criminal charges. At present, however, the officers involved are being treated as witnesses, which means they are not formally under investigation themselves. 

Allegations that the officers acted as they did because of a two-tier policing culture that is said to favour ethnic minorities over white people are just that – allegations. Perhaps the IOPC will find evidence for it, but I doubt it. There is, however, more force in a wider argument that has also become linked to the case that in trying to address racial disparities in policing and discrimination against black people the service has got itself into a terrible muddle and may have over-corrected. The Police Anti-Racism Commitment ¹⁴ https://www.npcc.police.uk/our-work/police-race-action-plan/police-anti-racism-commitment/ , published last year by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), is the most egregious example. 

It says police should aim for “racial equity” which it confusingly defines as: “Producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups by responding to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances and experiences, with understanding that these will be racialised and with the aim of reducing harm.” But the statement goes on to say that this “does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’ (racial equality).”

How is a rookie police constable expected to understand those principles, let alone apply them on the ground? The NPCC says it will re-examine the guidance, but the Home Office should go further and commission the policing watchdog, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), to assess the impact of all police anti-racism advice, policies and training across England and Wales. HMICFRS should aim to complete the review by the Autumn and publish its findings. At the very least, the result should be a refreshed policy that is clear and straightforward to follow without being couched in jargon, as so many police guidelines are.

This is not a moment for a Stephen Lawrence-style public inquiry

The review should not be seen as a retreat from a commitment to anti-racism in policing but a way to ensure that it retains the confidence of those to whom it applies and of the public. No one who watched the BBC’s Panorama expose of Charing Cross police station ¹⁸ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c937w3zj742o  last year can have any doubt that there remain pockets of racism (and misogyny) in the service – 10 serving or former officers were found guilty of gross misconduct as a result. And statistics on ethnicity still indicate that there is disproportionality in the criminal justice system, even though it may be partly explained by socio-economic and demographic factors that lie beyond the control of policing. ¹⁹ https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/crime-justice-and-the-law/policing/stop-and-search/latest/   ²⁰ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/ethnicity-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2024/statistics-on-ethnicity-and-the-criminal-justice-system-2024-…  Black people in England and Wales are four times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than White people and twice as likely to be arrested, while Black offenders are jailed, on average, for ten months longer than their White counterparts. 

The review of anti-racism guidance may also be a means of restoring some common-sense to policing, which was absent in Henry Nowak’s dying moments. Mark Nowak, Henry’s father, has said he also wants a common-sense approach to knife crime, questioning why Digwa was allowed to carry an eight-inch blade in public, the weapon with which he stabbed Henry. Laws which allow Sikhs to carry such knives must form part of the Home Office’s plan to halve knife crime within a decade, no matter how delicate the issue may be.  

Henry’s death is a moment for considered and targeted government action, not a Stephen Lawrence-style public inquiry that would cost millions and take years. Re-doubling efforts to reduce knife crime and re-setting police anti-racism strategies so that they command public confidence is what politicians should be aiming for.

Danny Shaw is a former BBC home affairs correspondent and worked as an adviser to Yvette Cooper during her time as shadow home secretary. He is an IfG senior fellow.