POLICE in Northwich have outlined their policy on dealing with racism - in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.

Inspector Peter Hulse, the race liaison officer at Northwich Police Station, believes his force is doing everything it can to match up to the scrutiny of the Home Office.

He said: "The police as a whole have come out of it with some form of tarnish.

"But I personally feel that we cannot be criticised along the same lines.

"We have pre-empted the report in many respects. I became the liaison officer before the case started, but obviously we have waited for the inquiry to finish so that we can take on its recommendations, and respond properly."

Inspector Hulse said he will treat any incident in which a black or Asian person is a victim as a racial assault, if there is even the slightest suspicion that the motive was racist.

"The suspicion need not come from the victim," he added.

"If just one witness believes it was a racial incident, then I will see it as such until I can prove or disprove that."

And he is equally firm on recruitment from ethnic minority groups.

He added: "We need to send the right message to people from those communities who wish to apply for the police force.

"They have to know that we will treat every application fairly and equally. That message is being sent now, through our literature in Job Centres, Citizens Advice Bureaux, police stations - anywhere that people take their first step towards applying."

Mr Hulse believes it is difficult to know how his team views racist issues, and that he will never know fully unless a racist incident takes place.

"You can't ask an officer to fill out a form asking whether he or she is racist," he added.

"But I'm confident enough in my staff, and in the rules that we have, to say that I don't think I will have to ask that question."

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