Shocking discrepancies in the way police forces deal with allegations of racism by their staff are today laid bare after a Mirror investigation.
New data shows that thousands of police officers and staff have been investigated in England and Wales over the past five years, but only a fraction faced disciplinary action.
And huge gaps are evident between individual forces - with one upholding nearly half of complaints while 12 others did not uphold a single one.
Campaigners have called for allegations to be re-investigated after the figures were branded "disgusting" and forces were accused of "gaslighting" victims of discrimination.
The families of Sean Rigg and Olaseni Lewis, young black men who died after being detained by police, said the data reveals officers can "act with impunity" with no meaningful oversight.
And Dr Victor Olisa, a former Met Police borough commander who was one of the UK's most senior black officers, said the figures uncovered by The Mirror should raise alarm bells across British policing.
Of 5,169 allegations of racially-motivated misconduct made to 39 police forces just 153 were upheld - less than three per cent.
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The Met Police received the highest number of complaints, but dismissed more than 98 per cent of the 1,368 allegations made against its staff.
By comparison Cheshire Police upheld 46.5 per cent of its 43 complaints, while Northamptonshire's figure was 37.5 per cent and in the West Midlands it was 31.7 per cent.
Among the forces which did not uphold a single complaint about racially-motivated misconduct was Cambridgeshire Constabulary, which received 132 between 2015 and 2020.
Devon and Cornwall, Hampshire, Thames Valley, Lancashire and Sussex also did not uphold a single complaint.
Three forces have not responded, while one, Wiltshire, refused to provide figures.
Campaigners have branded the findings "disgusting", saying they undermine confidence in UK policing.
But the National Police Chiefs Council claims the variation is "expected", and denied institutional racism.
Katrina Ffrench, chief executive of StopWatch, which campaigns to make police more accountable, said the figures highlight a toxic culture within the UK's law enforcement.
Katrina, who said she had been made to undergo a strip search herself by police after being wrongly accused of having a weapon five years ago, said: "There's no accountability.
"This leaves people feeling marginalised - if you can't trust the police, who can you trust? The complaints process isn't fit for purpose."
Ms Ffrench said chief constables should go back and re-investigate previous allegations.
"It's clear that these shouldn't be investigated in house," she stated.
She said victims of police discrimination are being "gaslighted" - and many are unwilling to go through the complaints process for fear of being targeted.
Ms Ffrench stated: "These complaints aren't malicious, it's a long and complex process which is very traumatic to relive.
"But most people won't complain to a system that they don't think they will get justice from.
"The state always wins. But I tell people that they need to make a complaint so that it's there on record."
In a small number of cases, the figures supplied to The Mirror reveal, police staff were sacked for sickening discrimation.
But not all forces confirmed the action taken against workers found to have acted in a racist manner.
In Nottinghamshire a serving officer left before he could be dismissed for sending a vile text message plotting to "kick the s***" out of black people at a sporting event.
A Greater Manchester police officer was sacked after advising a woman who reported a sex offence that she could face issues in her community because of her race.
In July last year a policeman from the West Midlands was fired for making racist comments about a colleague.
And in another case an officer in Merseyside was dismissed for making offensive remarks about mixed race couples.
Campaigners say these cases are the tip of the iceberg, however.
Stafford Scott, who two years ago won a settlement from the Met Police after claiming for damages for assault and battery and false imprisonment, said: "Most people just want to get away from police, if they decide to go back and make a complaint, they really believe it's racism.
"It takes a lot to go into a police station and put in a complaint to police officers about their fellow police officers.
"This is one of the reasons there is a lack of trust in police among the black community."
But he said many who feel they have been targeted by police because of their race will not make a complaint, for fear of being harassed in the future.
"I would advise people to go straight to a solicitors and pursue it through the civil courts," Mr Scott said.
"Their complaint system in the long run is going to cost them millions. If they had a robust complaints system they would save so much money."
Last year Mr Scott's 62-year-old brother Millard, father of rapper Wretch-32, was filmed being tasered by police during a house raid in Tottenham, North London.
After footage was released by his son, Millard Scott told the BBC: "It seems like I would have had to have died for someone to recognise what they’re seeing."
Police later said after a review that there was no evidence of misconduct - which his brother said highlighted why many have little faith in the procedures.
Adam Almeida, from anti-racism think tank the Runnymede Trust, said that very few people who feel they've been discriminated against will lodge official complaints.
He said: "I don't think it's a surprise as there's very low levels of confidence in police, especially among black and mixed race people.
"We have a system where complaints are made to the same system that protects officers, so we have very low accountability.
"That means there's a lot of suspicion and apprehension before people do file a complaint."
And he continued: "Of the people that do complain, I'm not surprised by the number that achieve justice."
Suresh Grover, of watchdog The Monitoring Group, said: "People don't have any confidence in making complaints - if they do, they get really tired by the process.
"There are serious cases where people are racially attacked, and they've gone to the police, and they've found the police themselves are discriminating against them."
Police forces deny that the figures are a sign of systematic failings.
Chief Constable Craig Guildford, lead for complaints and misconduct, at the National Police Chiefs Council, said the variation between the proportion of upheld cases is "expected".
He said: “Whilst complaints of racism are extremely low in number each one is still taken very seriously by our professional standards departments and the Independent Office for Police Conduct.”
"Racism complaints are very low in number and vary from force to force. Consequently the variation in the numbers upheld is to be expected."
He rubbished allegations of institutional racism within UK police forces, saying: “The police service welcomes scrutiny and wherever there is evidence of misconduct we will always take appropriate action. Equally, when an investigation finds no evidence, it is important that this is also reported.”
Individual forces have defended their records on investigating allegations of racism.
In a statement to The Mirror, the Met Police said: "Where we get it wrong, we fully investigate to determine whether the conduct of officers has breached the standards of professional behaviour.
"If standards are proven to have fallen below what is expected, we take appropriate action and ensure that lessons are learnt from each case."
A Cambridgeshire Constabulary spokeswoman said: “All allegations of misconduct are looked at thoroughly by our Professional Standards Department and, where necessary, a referral is made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) for independent review and direction.
“As a force we do not tolerate racism or discrimination of any kind, and robustly look into any complaints.
"We are committed to ensuring all officers and staff act with the utmost integrity and professionalism at all times.”
West Midlands Police, which upheld 50 of 158 complaints, said the figures demonstrated the force's commitment to weeding out discrimination.
In July last year it challenged an independent ruling after an officer was found to have used racist language.
As a result the unnamed officer was sacked for gross misconduct.
Detective Chief Superintendent Chris Todd, head of professional standards at West Midlands Police, said: “We will not tolerate racism in any form and any police officer or member of staff found to have behaved in such a manner can expect to be dismissed.
“There is no place for racism in policing and if we don’t eliminate it internally we cannot expect the public, particularly those from Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities, to put their trust in us."
And he said that the High Court appeal to have an officer sacked highlighted this commitment, stating: “I hope such examples show our determination to root out racism and give our communities confidence that we will take firm action against anyone who falls below our expected standards of behaviour."
IOPC Discrimination Lead and London Regional Director Sal Naseem said: “We reject the assertion that nothing is being done to tackle how the police respond to complaints of discrimination. Discrimination and the disproportionate use of police powers are a matter of concern which we have raised many times.
“In 2019/20 we upheld over one-third of appeals with race discrimination as factor, a clear demonstration of how we are exercising oversight of the complaints system. Last July, we announced work on race discrimination to identify the trends and patterns that might help drive the meaningful changes needed.
“We are looking at how the police respond to complaints as part of our discrimination work, as well as investigating more cases where there is an indication that use of policing powers are disproportionality impacting members of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities or where people from BAME communities have felt unfairly treated by the police.
“Oversight of complaints on areas of public concern cannot just be driven nationally. We strongly support a local and national approach, where police forces also take responsibility for reviewing and responding to concerns and have previously called on Police and Crime Commissioners to provide more transparency and assurance to local communities on how complaints are being scrutinised.”
