When I first spoke to Black Ballad in 2022, I was newly-appointed chair of the Independent Scrutiny & Oversight Board (ISOB) for the National Police Race Action Plan – policing’s response to the murder of George Floyd and the global protests that followed. I was open about my scepticism. I did not assume that policing had arrived at a deep or settled commitment to anti-racism.

I took the role in 2021 because there was something quietly radical about the promise itself: policing declaring an intention to become “anti-racist” and inviting independent scrutiny to test whether that promise had substance. I was clear then, as I am now, that the real measure would be whether the lived experience of Black people changed.

Five years on, the ISOB concluded on 31st March 2026. I feel a familiar mix of frustration and relief alongside a refusal to let cynicism have the final word.