ETHNIC MINORITY POLICE QUOTAS

A top black police officer has called for more ethnic minority members of the force to be promoted to senior roles, even if they are not qualified. Keith Jarrett, president of the National Black Police Association, said constabularies should deliberately appoint non-white officers to better reflect the UK population. Acknowledging that such a move would be unpopular, he went on to insist that ethnic communities want senior police officers who "look like them".

Mr Jarrett, president of the NBPA, said police forces were not reflecting the communities they served and change was happening far too slowly. Speaking at an NBPA annual meeting, Mr Jarrett said he knew of two forces which had promoted white officers without the appropriate qualifications above the rank of Chief Inspector. He said, "The reason for this happening is that they are the right persons for the job. Affirmative action in the eyes of the NBPA is having the right person for the job. If you need black police officers then what is the point of putting someone else there who wouldn't understand?"

He added, "We cannot police with consent by having one race of people dealing with the public. I know of at least two police forces where officers have been promoted without doing the Senior Command course because they were the right persons for the job. If a black officer is right for the job they should be fast-tracked. Lots of people will say that is giving jobs to people because they are black, because they are women, because they are gay. But the status quo is not getting us the results we need. It takes bravery to do something that is unpopular."

He said it was crucial for the police service to be proportional to the community it serves. He added, "People are saying 'I want to see someone who looks like me, who is not the cleaner, who is not sweeping the street or making the tea and coffee'. The Met and West Midlands and all these big conurbations could do with someone who looks like the communities, and that's not happening. It is not right there is only one black chief constable in the country, but I'm not convinced the blunt tool of positive action is the way to go. I want people to advance on merit through a fair system rather than have some saying that people are there for reasons other than merit."

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Political Correctness added, "This is absolute nonsense. It is outrageous that someone who is sworn to uphold the law fairly and equally should be engaging in an act of political correctness. Police officers, whatever their rank, should be chosen on merit, and not by arbitrary targets which favour one section of the population. Such targets are nothing short of racism and should have no place in policing." (Source: Daily Mail, Oct/07)

The National Black Police Association wants the government to consider setting quotas to increase the number of ethnic minority police officers. Ten-year targets were set after the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence in 1999, recommended police forces should have ethnic minority officers in proportion to the community being served, but many forces are likely to fall short. The NBPA said this was despite a series of initiatives to encourage black and Asian people to apply.

Ministers must now "seriously consider" affirmative action, under which a set number of posts at all ranks of the police service would be reserved for ethnic minorities, said the NBPA. The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said it had concerns about the proposal, but agreed "radical" measures were needed if ethnic minority candidates were to be fast-tracked into the service.

Police Federation chairman Jan Berry said targets were needed but "if you have a quota you are giving preferential treatment to one group". She added, "This causes resentment among a workforce that uses teamwork to get on. There are seven forces who will have great difficulty meeting the targets. To meet them by 2009 they will have to recruit 80% black officers."

Supt Ali Dizaei, one of Britain's top ethnic minority officers, said that if two applicants of the same standard, one black, one white, were interviewed for a job and were the same standard, the black applicant should get it. There is no evidence at all that this debate, if implemented, is going to cause resentment," he said.

In April 2004, the Metropolitan Black Police Association (MBPA) suggested using positive discrimination to make the force more representative of London's racial mix. The association put forward the idea to the Morris Inquiry which was investigating how internal complaints concerning ethnic minority officers were carried out.

At the time, president of the National Black Police Association, Ray Powell, said positive discrimination would be useful in areas where there are a high percentage of ethnic minorities, but he said there were already problems with 'positive action policies' in the police force.

"If we are to have any affirmative action, it should be on retention and progression, not recruitment. That would produce a knock-on effect, by example. Black and Asian officers like to know they make the grade as a detective because they are a good detective. They can recruit as many people as they like, but set them up to fail," he said.

Avon and Somerset Police force rejected nearly 200 job applications because they were from WHITE MEN. Almost 800 people applied for 180 posts but 186 of those were sent by Caucasian males and were binned as soon as they arrived. The force admitted they were ruled out because it was “over-represented by white men”.

Andy Palfreman, chairman of Avon and Somerset Police Federation, warned that the policy could be illegal and Batook Pandya, director of Bristol-based Support Against Racist Incidents, added, “This is positive discrimination gone mad. They should select the best person based on their skills and attributes, not the colour of their skin. We need a police force from all sections of our multi-cultural society, but this is not the way to get it.”

Paul Hazel, head of personnel and training, said, “The force is over-represented by white men. We will continue to try to more accurately reflect the cultural diversity of all our communities and meet Home Office objectives.” He said the policy is part of a strategy to improve ethnic diversity within the police. (Source: The Sun)

Next >>>