The chapter maintains that racist beliefs, xenophobic attitudes, and racial prejudices are widespread in British society, and research on policing conducted in the 1970's, 1980's, and early 1990's found that racism and racial prejudice in police culture were more widespread and more extreme than in wider society. The chapter examines how such police bias against racial minorities in Britain is manifested in the targeting of minority communities for public-order policing, the use of stop and search, arrest and the decision to charge, and the police response to racist violence against minorities. Ethnic-minority police officers are under-represented on police forces, and those who have been recruited are treated with disrespect by other officers. The retention rate for ethnic minority police officers has been lower than for White officers and worsened in the period of 1994-98. Perceived and actual ineffectiveness in the police complaints procedure and the fear of being harassed by police have caused victims of alleged police misconduct to abandon the official complaints procedure and take civil action for damages against the police. The use of the civil courts to redress police misconduct against citizens has increased dramatically over the past two decades. A number of inquiries have examined police relations with and actions toward minorities in Britain, with the most recent inquiry issuing in the Macpherson Report in 1999. This report not only criticized the police for failing to respond properly and competently to racist violence, but also expressed a more widespread concern about the inequitable use of stop and search powers, deaths in police custody, racial discrimination, and a lack of openness and accountability in the use of police discretion in minority communities. The report concluded that the Black community was "over policed ... and under protected." Seventy recommendations, almost all of which were accepted by the government, amounted to the most extensive program of reform in the history of the relationship between the police and ethnic minority communities. In the view of the authors of this chapter, reform should begin with a clear commitment to democratic policing based on responsiveness, accountability to the community, and adherence to internationally recognized human rights standards. The police service should be internally democratic and reflect the demography of the communities served. 5 notes and 108 references