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Sikh officer
rejected a dozen times makes his point
The force was being racist; he may get major damages
WSN Network
 MANCHESTER:
A Sikh
policeman is set to receive a five-figure damages award for racial
discrimination after a police force rejected a dozen applications
from him to join in 18 years, a report in The Times said. A hearing
is set for March 18 to determine compensation. The report detailed
how PC Sangram Singh-Bhacker from Knutsford, who comes from an
Indian family in Manchester, had been trying to join the city's
police since 1990 and had served with five other forces in England
(including Cheshire and latterly British Transport Police) but
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) repeatedly refused to allow him to
transfer to work in his home city. He was making regular
applications to transfer to
Manchester,
so that he could be closer to his family.
In February last
year Andrew Marston, its head of personnel, told him in a letter: "I
am not prepared to consider you as a potential transferee with the
GMP now or in the future." The Times report quoted Mr Singh-Bhacker,
40, as saying that he has had "my suspicions over the years and that
letter confirmed it. I thought it was personal and racial. I decided
to go to an employment tribunal because that was the only way I was
going to get any answers." The tribunal ruled that Mr Singh- Bhacker
had suffered racial discrimination.
It will rule on
compensation next month. It noted that he was a qualified,
physically fit officer who had been accepted by the Wiltshire,
Merseyside, West Yorkshire and Cheshire forces, as well as British
Transport Police, his current employer. Yet Manchester police had
blocked his applications despite a white officer of similar age and
experience being allowed to transfer into the force. In its written
judgment the tribunal expressed surprise and shock at some of the
evidence presented by the police force and said that it had been
puzzled and perplexed at the reasons advanced for not employing Mr
Singh-Bhacker. The force had given a variety of reasons — including
poor health — and cast doubt on his integrity at the hearing. The
tribunal said it was "surprised that has seen fit to come and
impugn the claimant's honesty and integrity without producing
documentation to support this".
 Mr Singh-Bhacker,
married with two sons, said that the judgment marked an end to his
battle and that he would no longer try to join the Manchester force.
"I love my city. I wanted to work in the city as a policeman, to be
close to my family and especially my mother, who was ill for a long
time until she died last year." He added that he had experienced
racism during most of his police career. He said: "Racism still
exists in police organisations. Diversity courses won't erase it but
they do educate people.
In some cases,
however, they can teach racists how not to get caught." The GMP said
that it was "disappointed and unhappy" with the tribunal's finding.
A spokesman said: "We actively encourage applications from minority
ethnic communities." Of the many reasons given in defence were that
he did not meet national fitness standards as a result of a
whiplash-type injury and that the force did not like to poach staff
from neighbouring forces if they had not been there very long.
27
February 2008
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