Lawrence case police `have shamed force'

THE HOME OFFICE minister Paul Boateng yesterday fiercely attacked the "shameful" police officers who "botched" the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation, saying they had brought "society into disrepute".

Mr Boateng spoke out at a London conference the day after it emerged that no Scotland Yard officer was to be punished for the failings of the Lawrence investigation.

He said: "The overwhelming majority of police officers in the [Metropolitan police] and elsewhere in the country are ashamed of those officers, who ought to be ashamed of themselves ... they have brought disrepute on their fellow officers and indeed society as a whole."

He added that officials at the Home Office also felt a "sense of professional shame" over the failures of the investigation.

Mr Boateng was speaking at a conference called Let's Get It Right: Race and Justice 2000, organised by the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders.

A day earlier, Detective Inspector Ben Bullock, who was second in command of the Lawrence investigation, was cleared of 26 out of 28 charges against him at a police tribunal. He is likely to be cautioned, reprimanded or admonished at a final hearing next week but will retire two days later.

The tribunal was criticised by Stephen Lawrence's mother, Doreen, as a "whitewash". Four other senior officers severely criticised by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny's report into the Lawrence investigation retired several years ago.

Mr Boateng also used yesterday's conference, which was attended by many professionals involved in fighting racism, to launch an attack on the work of race equality councils. He said: "Some are an absolute waste of space. For some it would be better if they were not [there]. Some make no contribution whatever to community relations and spend most of their time fighting among themselves."

Mr Boateng said he knew what he was talking about because he had formerly served as the chairman of a community relations council.