Across the public sector a culture of fear resides, a culture where public servants are terrified of being described as racist. This insiduous fear affects decision making from the Police, Health, housing, benefits and Social Services; decisions are not always made on the bais of 'what is the right thing to do', but at times on the basis of least risk either to the individual or the organisation.Not for one moment am I defending racist behaviour, but it is clear that decisions taken by front line services can be affected by a fear of human rights lawyers, legions of special interest groups and in this instance the accusation of racist behaviour.An excellent article by Mark Austin in the Sunday Mirror talks about the Rochdale sex case where, even if the accusation is partly true, it would a appear a culture of non-intervention prevailed for this very reason - a fear of being labeled racist.A considerable number of vulnerable young women were seriously let down in Rochdale because the 'authorities' failed to intervene to prevent terrible crimes being committed.The Chief Prosecutor in this case was brave enough to state that "imported cultural baggage" played a part in this case.Across immigration, policing to social services we see public servants bending over backwards to avoid a racist tag. Since when did middle class old ladies from Tunbridge Wells pose a threat to aircraft & warrant the kind of invasive searches that we regularly see at airports.If the Police are looking for a mugger who is 6' white and shaven headed, why would they stop anyone who does not fit that description? Similarly if certain crimes in an area are being committed by people from the black community, why would they feel obliged to stop & question anyone else?There is a strong argument that public services should be colour blind in the way that they operate & if the Rochdale case means we take a long hard look at how we have let vulnerable people down through fear of a racist accusation then that can only be a good thing.
