UK's first black police chief asks why there have been no others

Britain’s first black chief constable has questioned why no one has been given the opportunity to follow his path, despite the talent available.

Michael Fuller was expressing his concerns to an audience at Hay festival, where he also asked why the Football Association had not done more to combat racism against players, and revealed he was approached to join the Masons.

Fuller joined the Metropolitan police as a cadet aged 16 in 1975. He stuck with policing despite frequent racist bullying from within his own ranks, and abuse on the street from people who saw him as a traitor.

He worked his way up through the Met and became a script adviser on the TV series Prime Suspect, in which Colin Salmon played a character based on him. From 2004 to 2010, Fuller was the chief constable of Kent.

“I was the first ever black chief constable and I assumed, as with women – there are lots of women chief constables now – that a lot [of other black people] would follow,” he said. “But it hasn’t happened, and we’re talking nine years and there still haven’t been any other black chief constables appointed.”

Asked why, Fuller said he did not know. “I wouldn’t be involved in the decision-making. I think those who are should have to answer that, because I have seen lots of very talented people,” he said.

Fuller, who has written a memoir, said his children would not recognise some of the racist experiences he encountered. But he was “surprised and amazed” that the abuse of black football players was still going on.

He recalled being a young officer on duty at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge stadium, where black players were on the receiving end of racist abuse and had banana skins thrown at them. Offenders were ejected from the ground, although they would simply buy a ticket to come back in, so the punishment was “effectively a fine”.

Fuller added: “What I’m surprised at is that is still going on today, many years later, and the clubs still haven’t got to grips with this. The CCTV is far better, you can identify who is actually causing the problems. I’m very surprised … you’ve still got people shouting racist abuse.

“I’ve been to football grounds with my son and been ashamed that this is still continuing … I know what it’s like.”

He questioned how much the FA had done to combat the problem. “Any other employer would be in big trouble if they had allowed that to continue,” he said.

Fuller, the son of Windrush generation parents, was in the care system for most of his childhood and is an example, he said, of how it was a positive experience. “I certainly benefited from being in an institution,” he said.

While a serving police officer, he admitted he was approached to join the Masons. “It’s just not in my nature to join a secretive organisation. I was aware they do a lot of good charitable works … I was also aware that in the lodge I was asked to join, there were judges, police officers, but there were also criminals. I said no way. That was my only dealing with them,” Fuller said.