:00:00. > :00:00.Delays investigating police racism - a former Bedfordshire officer
:00:00. > :00:11.calls for action on his three-year-old case.
:00:12. > :00:13.Clearing landmines from warzones - the Cambridgeshire company helping
:00:14. > :00:29.And changeable weather on the way. I will have all the details.
:00:30. > :00:33.First tonight, criticism over delays in investigating racial
:00:34. > :00:37.discrimination in one of our police forces.
:00:38. > :00:40.In 2014 Harmit Bahra was awarded more than ?200 ,000 after taking
:00:41. > :00:46.The court agreed he'd been discriminated against
:00:47. > :00:50.But, three years on, and the Independent Police
:00:51. > :00:53.Complaints Commission is still investigating 15 police
:00:54. > :01:02.Harmit Bahra passed his inspector's exam on the first attempt,
:01:03. > :01:11.He says that discrimination he faced cheated him out of his ambitions.
:01:12. > :01:14.I would've been the first Indian police officer who made it
:01:15. > :01:20.No-one can understand the damage it has done.
:01:21. > :01:24.It damaged me as a person, it damaged me as a police officer
:01:25. > :01:27.and the reputation of me as a police officer.
:01:28. > :01:31.An employment tribunal in 2014 found that Sergeant Bahra
:01:32. > :01:33.had been discriminated against by Bedfordshire Police
:01:34. > :01:39.11 police officers of chief inspector rank
:01:40. > :01:42.and above, and four police staff, are currently under
:01:43. > :01:46.investigation by the IPCC for suspected gross misconduct.
:01:47. > :01:53.So now they have retired, if they say sorry, we're not
:01:54. > :01:55.going to get involved, we're not interested,
:01:56. > :02:02.Even when the IPCC finish their investigation, they refer it
:02:03. > :02:06.back to Bedfordshire Police as the appropriate authority, so
:02:07. > :02:11.no matter what the IPCC say, it will go back to Jon Boutcher,
:02:12. > :02:14.if he says I am not interested, he still doesn't have
:02:15. > :02:20.Speaking on Look East last week, the Chief Constable Jon Boutcher
:02:21. > :02:23.wouldn't be drawn on whether an investigation into the 11 senior
:02:24. > :02:27.officers was indicative of a wider problem.
:02:28. > :02:31.That smacks of institutional racism, doesn't it?
:02:32. > :02:32.The investigation needs to take its course.
:02:33. > :02:36.It might find that there's not been any inappropriate behaviours.
:02:37. > :02:38.The IPCC told us that the reason their investigation is taking
:02:39. > :02:43.so long is that it has been complex and resource intensive.
:02:44. > :02:45.It has now reached a significant stage and they are working
:02:46. > :02:51.What do you think of Bedfordshire Police's current
:02:52. > :02:53.recruitment drive to bring in more ethnic minority
:02:54. > :03:03.They were having recruiting drives then.
:03:04. > :03:05.The reason they do not achieve anything in 30 years
:03:06. > :03:15.That is why ethnic minorities cannot progress,
:03:16. > :03:22.Bedfordshire Police told us that they are frustrated by the length
:03:23. > :03:26.of the investigation into Harmit Bahra's case.
:03:27. > :03:35.Well, Inspector Mike Chand from Bedfordshire Police campaigns
:03:36. > :03:38.to get more black and ethnic minority officers in the force.
:03:39. > :03:41.I asked him if more needs to be done to promote
:03:42. > :03:47.officers like Harmit Bahra to the senior ranks.
:03:48. > :03:51.Historically and nationally, the police, I feel, haven't done
:03:52. > :03:54.enough to first of all keep BME candidates, officers
:03:55. > :04:00.The Government introduced positive action but I think as yet,
:04:01. > :04:03.no force has taken positivity up so I think it's an area that
:04:04. > :04:09.We're talking today about a case where the man won his tribunal
:04:10. > :04:12.three years ago and he claimed that there was an institutional
:04:13. > :04:17.racism acting against him that meant he couldn't get promotion.
:04:18. > :04:20.Do you think that perception is a bad thing for people thinking
:04:21. > :04:27.Well, first of all, I can't comment on a live case so I won't.
:04:28. > :04:32.However, talking about the police force in general, the perception BME
:04:33. > :04:43.people have of the police force is actually they could be
:04:44. > :04:46.racist and historically, there has been proven to be racism
:04:47. > :04:48.and that generally is what people perceive it to be.
:04:49. > :04:50.However, times have changed, people are now joining the system,
:04:51. > :04:53.learning about the system and I think going ahead,
:04:54. > :04:55.if it doesn't change, there'll be some serious issues
:04:56. > :04:59.What more would you like to see done in terms of recruitment,
:05:00. > :05:01.retention and progression of BME officers?
:05:02. > :05:04.Well, I'd like all police forces to take up the option of positive
:05:05. > :05:14.At the end of the day, the law's been made,
:05:15. > :05:16.rules have been engaged by the government in order
:05:17. > :05:19.to solve these issues and if we do not make use of them,
:05:20. > :05:21.then what's the point of having them there?
:05:22. > :05:22.The demographics of society have changed.
:05:23. > :05:25.If the police forces don't change with them,
:05:26. > :05:29.then I can say they won't be doing the service that the public require.
:05:30. > :05:32.It's not just about the numbers and statistics, is it?
:05:33. > :05:34.Why is it important that the police force reflect
:05:35. > :05:41.Well, ultimately the public are the police and the
:05:42. > :05:46.If we're not reflecting our communities then how can
:05:47. > :05:54.I mean, ultimately that's the goal of any police force, to serve
:05:55. > :05:56.communities and if communities are not being served
:05:57. > :05:58.because actually there's no-one that looks like them,
:05:59. > :06:01.talks like them, understands their culture, then how can
:06:02. > :06:04.you possibly reflect them and how can you serve them?
:06:05. > :06:08.People need to understand that you need BME minorities
:06:09. > :06:11.within the executive ranks so they can make those
:06:12. > :06:13.informed decisions on cultures and communities.
:06:14. > :06:18.Without that, you are simply going to get a biased view of the world
:06:19. > :06:27.A taxi driver has been cleared of causing the death of Northampton
:06:28. > :06:31.The 38-year-old suffered fatal head injuries after his motorbike
:06:32. > :06:35.was involved in a crash with a car in London in August 2015.
:06:36. > :06:37.The cab driver, Abdul Qayyum, from Slough in Berkshire,
:06:38. > :06:40.was today found not guilty of causing death
:06:41. > :06:49.Police are appealing for witnesses after thieves used a JCB digger
:06:50. > :06:51.to steal a cash machine from a Cambridgeshire
:06:52. > :06:55.Four men wearing balaclavas used the digger to destroy
:06:56. > :06:58.the wall of the Co-Op store in Longstanton High Street
:06:59. > :07:02.They removed the cash machine from the building and then left
:07:03. > :07:08.A Cambridgeshire engineering company is helping Prince Harry's charity
:07:09. > :07:10.The Halo Trust in the global fight against landmines.
:07:11. > :07:13.Armtrak, who are based in Burwell, build specialist mine
:07:14. > :07:18.They're used all over the world to remove hidden explosive
:07:19. > :07:28.There are thought to be more than a million mines scattered
:07:29. > :07:32.Some left over from distant wars, many the result
:07:33. > :07:37.The cost to human life is catastrophic.
:07:38. > :07:43.Across the globe, mines kill over 800 people every month.
:07:44. > :07:45.An international mine banning treaty was introduced 20 years ago,
:07:46. > :07:49.effectively stopping the use of all antipersonnel mines.
:07:50. > :07:53.Now, although some states still do use and produce them,
:07:54. > :07:56.the number's fallen dramatically thanks mainly to this treaty.
:07:57. > :07:59.But perhaps more importantly, tens of millions of mines have
:08:00. > :08:02.been cleared, thanks, in part, to these machines
:08:03. > :08:08.It's got titanium spikes which then rips up the ground.
:08:09. > :08:11.Any mine which is underneath it, it will either explode it
:08:12. > :08:18.As well as these armoured tractors, Armtrak specialise
:08:19. > :08:23.There's too many landmines, it's going to take many
:08:24. > :08:27.As quick as we clear them, other countries are still laying
:08:28. > :08:33.We're making a change, slowly, but not fast enough and every
:08:34. > :08:36.Every one of these machines out there hopefully
:08:37. > :08:41.Armtrac are currently preparing one of these machines
:08:42. > :08:43.for Prince Harry's charity, The Halo Trust.
:08:44. > :08:47.Last week, the prince pledged to continue his mother's legacy
:08:48. > :08:52.My mother had been shocked and appalled by the impact that
:08:53. > :08:56.landmines were having on incredibly vulnerable people,
:08:57. > :09:01.She didn't understand why more people were not willing to address
:09:02. > :09:08.She refused to accept that these destructive weapons should be left
:09:09. > :09:11.where they were just because they were perceived as too
:09:12. > :09:19.They cost tens of thousands to build but with the weak pound,
:09:20. > :09:24.However, the real value is in lives saved.
:09:25. > :09:30.Jozef Hall, BBC Look East, Cambridgeshire.
:09:31. > :09:32.The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have been in Bedfordshire today
:09:33. > :09:35.to open the new Elephant Care Centre at Whipsnade Zoo.
:09:36. > :09:38.As well as meeting the keepers, the royal couple met Donna
:09:39. > :09:43.The ?2 million facility will house nine Asian elephants
:09:44. > :09:47.Prince Philip opened the original elephant
:09:48. > :09:53.The ZSL charity which runs the zoo, and of which the Queen is a patron,
:09:54. > :09:55.is involved in more than 50 conservation programmes around
:09:56. > :09:58.the world, to ensure elephants and humans can coexist peacefully.
:09:59. > :10:00.The centre will open to the public on Wednesday.
:10:01. > :10:03.I'll leave you with the weather from Alex.
:10:04. > :10:08.Clear skies across some of the region at the moment, but increasing
:10:09. > :10:11.amounts of cloud coming in from the north-west as we go through the
:10:12. > :10:16.night, so a milder night night compared with last night, and the
:10:17. > :10:20.possibility of the odd spot of rain by the end of the night. These are
:10:21. > :10:24.the sorts of temperatures we can end the night on, so a milder start to
:10:25. > :10:29.the day tomorrow. A weather system is coming from the north-west
:10:30. > :10:33.bringing cold air behind it and a little bit of rain, but not a huge
:10:34. > :10:37.amount. We start the day with cloudy conditions, the middle of the day
:10:38. > :10:42.will be brighter and in that brightness we could get highs of 14
:10:43. > :10:46.degrees, but sometimes limited compared with today. As the day goes
:10:47. > :10:51.on, this patchy rain moves in from the north-west, but for some parts
:10:52. > :10:55.of the region it will stay dry. There are conditions follow and a
:10:56. > :11:04.cold night follows as well. Here is the outlook.
:11:05. > :11:12.On Sunday, on the cool side for East itself.
:11:13. > :11:25.Good evening. Grace of all it -- it is greatest of all in Scotland. A
:11:26. > :11:29.weather front is on the move. The rain edging down into south-western
:11:30. > :11:36.parts of Scotland and northern Ireland. Much of England and Wales
:11:37. > :11:39.will have a dry note but not quite as Chile to start tomorrow. Let's
:11:40. > :11:43.deal with the wet weather first thing tomorrow. It will be a damp
:11:44. > :11:51.start for Scotland and Northern Ireland. Heaviest rain on the hills
:11:52. > :11:53.towards the coast and east of the Pennines, not too much rain at