Scotland Yard could recruit ethnic minority officer for every white constable as it seeks legal right to positively discriminate


  • Just 10% of Met's officers are from ethnic minorities
  • But 40% of London population are ethnic minorities
  • Law change could see Met having to recruit an ethnic minority officer for every white constable they hire
  • It could help bring proportional representation to force


By SUZANNAH HILLS
PUBLISHED: 11:03 EST, 3 June 2013 | UPDATED: 12:19 EST, 3 June 2013
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Scotland Yard is reviewing proposed changes to the law which would increase the number of ethnic minority officers joining the police force.

Under the proposals, which Scotland Yard is discussing with the government, the Met would have to recruit an ethnic minority officer for every white constable they hire.

Met chiefs believe the move is necessary to make the police force, which is currently a 'white, male-dominated' organisation, more representative of the community it serves.


Proposed positive discrimination: Scotland Yard is in discussion with the government over proposed changes to the law which could help increase the number of ethnic minorities on the Met police force


Just 10 per cent of the Met’s 32,000 officers are from ethnic minority backgrounds compared to 40 per cent of London’s overall population.

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Scotland Yard is now considering a system similar to that used in Northern Ireland where one Catholic officer was recruited for every Protestant officer to bring proportional representation to the force.
A Met spokesman said: 'The MPS is considering a range of positive action options as permitted under the Equality Act to help attract applications in our forthcoming recruitment process for approximately 5,000 new officers, which will enable our workforce to be more representative of the communities it serves.

'We know from the 2011 census that London is more diverse than ever and that our workforce does not reflect that diversity as we would like it to, despite significant progress in recent years.


Time for change: Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne said the Met Police Service needs to overcome its history of being a white, male-dominated organisation


'Options under consideration include access to coaching by established officers, the provisions of additional training prior to candidates attending assessment centres, changes to the application and selection processes and bursaries for CKP students.

'No final decisions on these options have been yet been taken.'

POSITIVE DISCRIMINATION

Other police forces and organisations have used positive discrimination to make their membership more representative of the wider community.

The 50-50 recruitment rule for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) is one of the best known examples of positive discrimination.

From 2001, the force was legally obliged to operate a policy of recruiting a Catholic officer for every Protestant it employed in order to address the under-representation of the Catholic/Nationalist community that had existed for many decades in policing.

Before the rule was introduced, the former Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was made up of 92 per cent from the Protestant/Unionist community.

By February 2011, 29.7 per cent of the 7,200 officers were from the Catholic community and the scheme was ended in March that year.
In South Africa, a 'quota system' was enforced in 1998 which meant the country's cricket team had to include a minimum of four players from ethnic backgrounds in their starting eleven for each match.

The country announced plans last year to scrap the scheme in favour of a new system which would monitor 'transformation targets' of all sports instead of enforcing them.



Although the spokesman added that, despite the 50-50 law change being openly discussed by police chiefs, it was not part of the force's current proposals.

They continued: 'This would require a change in the law and whilst it has been quite openly discussed by the MPS, as well other forces, it is recognised that the context is very different and it is not within our current proposals.

'Nevertheless we continue to explore how we target groups in our recruitment processes to bring different skills and knowledge to the police service.'

The comments come after Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne, who is in charge of Territorial Policing, said the current race relations law doesn’t allow the force 'to be as bold as we could be' ahead of a huge public recruitment campaign for 5,000 officers over the next three to four years.

In an interview with the Guardian, he said: 'We have not kept pace with the changing shape of London ... The thing we have got to overcome, by legacy and history, we have broadly been, initially, a white, male-dominated organisation.'

Byrne revealed the Met is also considering outsourcing its recruitment in an attempt to prevent the issue from continuing.

Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester police, added: 'The police service is not as effective as it could be in countering terrorism because of its ethnic makeup.

'A big part of dealing with terrorism and crime is gathering intelligence, having people who get to know local people so they have the confidence to pass information.'

The Met Police Federation said it was opposed to positive discrimination with its Chairman John Tully stating: 'Any discrimination is wrong, appointment should only be based on merit.'


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