THE father of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence attended akeynote seminar hosted by Avon and Somerset police today.
Senior police from the force as well as staff from the probation,Crown Prosecution and prison services, and the courts were invited tothe force headquarters in Portishead for the two-day seminar whichends tomorrow.
The aim is to explore ways in which the police and other agenciescan better meet the needs of all sections of the community.
In what is thought to be the first event of its kind, delegateswill see a performance of a play called My England by a Londontheatre company. The play uses an international football match as thesetting in which to explore racism, sexism and faith discrimination.
Delegates heard today from Neville Lawrence, whose teenage sonStephen was murdered in a racist attack in London.
He said he had worked closely with the former Bristol Roversplayer Carl Saunders, who was appointed to work with the police onrace relations and who helped co-ordinate the seminar.
The play, which includes an introduction by Mr Lawrence, has beenturned into a video for use in schools.
Mr Lawrence said: "I spoke to Carl and we came up with the idea ofhaving this seminar. In order to police the whole community, you haveto find out what makes people tick.
"I've been asked in the past why are black people frightened to gointo the force - they are not but they want to feel welcome and wanta fair crack of the whip.
"They don't want to be the subject of racism. People have to feelcomfortable in the job and the police have a role to play in this."
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