Kevin Maxwell

Writer and advocate

Forced Out

Three months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, on a cold December morning, I reported for duty at GMP’s training school in Bury, a looming brick structure with long iron gates. At twenty-three years old, with my recently issued uniform in bags, I was about to cross the threshold of the Sedgley Park…

The Metropolitan Police is nowhere near tackling its racism problems

Cressida Dick, the Commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police, has sensationally stated that the police force is no longer institutionally racist. As a black former police officer, I’d like to say I’m surprised by these comments, which I disagree with entirely, but sadly I’m not. Since her appointment, it has been clear that Dick was never going…

Police don’t understand how to stop knife crime among young black men

In the London Borough of Islington where I live – one of the capital’s richest and poorest places – another young life has been lost to violence on Britain’s streets. Knife crime is now a widespread social problem, with an 8 per cent increase reported across England and Wales within the past decade, and a 50 per cent increase in London in just…

The ugly truth of racism

By now, more than 60,000 people have watched a video showing Ohio police officer Peter Casuccio lecturing two young black boys about gun safety. He had stopped them due to a police report that one of the boys was in possession of a gun, but the officer discovered the 11-year old boy was carrying a BB gun.…

Extending stop and search powers

The news that the government could extend stop and search powers to allow police officers to search for acid, drones and laser pointers has been welcomed by many. I’m mindful of the changes to the “reasonable grounds” needed to stop and search individuals. Stop and search and its disproportionate use on black, Asian and minority ethnic Britons was a subject of contention during my decade-long policing…

Where are the Black Queer presenters?

A few months ago I had a meeting with two BBC producers about a new television series called Queer Britain. I was invited to the meeting after various communication to talk about intersectionality, like being both black and gay. I initially thought the series was going to be truly diverse, but left the chat somewhat puzzled. The producers contacted me to…

PC Palmer died the best of our police

Since his murder, I’ve not publicly commented on the passing of PC Keith Palmer for a lot of reasons – one being my own history with the Metropolitan Police. But today I want to make it clear: PC Palmer died a hero. He died as an exemplar of everything I advocate in a positive police force: officers doing their job…

Forgiveness. A Forgiven.

It’s hard to believe that eight years have flown by, eight years of Barack Obama’s presidency. For the same amount of time he has been in office, I have been fighting racism and homophobia within the police. I’ve realised there comes a point in our lives when we have to move on from things that…