More diverse force 'will take patience'

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Thursday 3rd Mar 2005.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke has pledged to increase the number of ethnic minority police officers in Bradford, but he warned it will take time.

He said it was necessary that people from all communities in Bradford should be leading the police at a senior level and the way to achieve this was through building confidence between the community and the police.

"The building work on that relationship is painstaking and we are going to have to be patient," he said.

"But I am not going to relax the pressure on achieving that in any degree whatsoever. What I won't sacrifice is the drive which is essential to have people from the whole community represented through all levels of policing at significant levels."

The Home Office has set a target of having 7.7 per cent of police in England and Wales drawn from minority ethnic backgrounds by 2009.

But Metropolitan forces are struggling to meet the target and senior officers from Scotland Yard say it is almost impossible.

In West Yorkshire, there are fewer than 200 officers from ethnic minorities, around 3.6 per cent of the force, and only one above the rank of chief inspector - Assistant Chief Constable Jawaid Akhtar.

But Inspector Raham Khan, race relations officer for West Yorkshire Police, was confident the Home Office target could be achieved. Insp Khan, who is also chairman of the West Yorkshire Black Police Officers Association, said: "We are making progress but it is a slow process and I agree with the Home Secretary we have to be patient.

"But I feel confident about it. My philosophy is that, with the right resources and the right approach, everything is achievable."

He added: "I want those people out there in the ethnic communities with the right abilities to apply to us. We would welcome them with open arms and they will get the guidance they need. We need to look at alternative methods to encourage them."

Tom McGhie, chairman of policemen's union the West Yorkshire Police Federation, said: "We believe the make-up of the force should reflect the community it serves, but it is difficult to achieve.

"Raham Khan has done a lot of really good work to encourage people from ethnic communities to become police officers and that has been supported by the force.

"Historically, policing is not the first-choice career for a lot of ethnic minority communities. We have to break down that barrier."

Mr McGhie said finding role models like Jawaid Akhtar was the key. "The more members of ethnic communities we can get into high-profile roles, the more it will give people confidence to aspire in the same way because they see there are no barriers."

He said there had been positive feedback when the Black Police Officers Association went into Bradford schools to show 16-year-olds what they could achieve.

The Association of Chief Police Officers is negotiating with the Home Office to change the way the figures for ethnic quotas are measured - from comparisons based on overall staffing to comparisons based on recruitment figures.

Mr Clarke said: "We will discuss it with ACPO and consider carefully what they have to say, but I don't want to lose any focus on getting people from across the whole community into policing right up to top ranks."

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