London police asked to have more ethnic officers

LONDON - The London Metropolitan Police has been asked to increase the number of officers from black and ethnic minorities (BME) at the senior level to improve racial diversity.

One way suggested is to allow BME recruits to join the force at a higher rank than constable and skip ranks to speed up their way to the top echelons, according to a report commissioned by London mayor Boris Johnson and compiled by the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA).

The report says the London police has not done enough to promote officers from these communities and reveals that minority candidates applying for posts above the rank of inspector have a nine per cent success rate, compared to 23 per cent for general candidates. Currently, none of the 38 top officers at the Metropolitan Police - those above the rank of commander - is from a minority background.

The disparity is evident at the national level too, the report says, revealing that of the 269 officers ranked assistant chief constable or above, only four are from minority backgrounds.

It recommends that the assessment process for promotion to senior rank should be done externally in order to avoid prejudice against minority candidates.

The report also suggests fast-tracking minority police community support officers, allowing them to become full-fledged police constables quickly.

Though the Metropolitan Police is not racist, some actions of the police force sometimes lead to perceived or even real discrimination, the report adds.

The police have been trying to shake off its racist tag since the killing of a black youth, Stephen Lawrence, in 1993 following which an official inquiry accused the force of discriminating on the basis of race.

The situation worsened in 2008 when the then seniormost officer from Asian background, Tarique Ghaffur, took the then commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, to an employment tribunal alleging racism.

Reacting to the new report, the Metropolitan Police stated: “The report acknowledges the significant progress made by the police in addressing the issues of equality and diversity. We recognise there is still more to do. We will now be considering the recommendations in the report.”

(Venkata Vemuri can be contacted at venkata.v@ians.in)