Met Police should take on one ethnic minority officer for every white recruit, says Hogan-Howe in new 50/50 recruitment drive



Met Commissioner issues call for positive discrimination law change

Move needed to shake off reputation for racism in the ranks

Sir Bernard wants a force which ends up 'looking and feeling' like London



Scotland Yard will have to recruit an ethnic minority officer for every white officer they take on, under radical plans to shake off its reputation for racism in the ranks.

Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has called for a change in the law to allow positive discrimination to recruit more black and ethnic minority officers.

In the wake of accusations that the Metropolitan Police is still ‘institutionally racist’, the boss wants to change the predominantly white male make-up of the force with a radical five year recruitment blitz of 50/50 ethnic minority officers to white officers.

The Metropolitan Police Scotland Yard will have to recruit an ethnic minority officer for every white officer they take on

He wants to emulate a controversial Northern Ireland model which saw a temporary change in the law to allow one Catholic officer recruited for every Protestant officer when the Police Service of Northern Ireland formed in 2001.

Currently the Metropolitan Police is only recruiting one in five officers from ethnic minorities.

But Sir Bernard wants to adapt the 50/50 recruitment scheme so that the force ends up ‘looking and feeling’ like London where 40 per cent of the diverse population is made up of ethnic minorities.

He spoke out as a poll on BBC London Radio revealed that one in three people still believe the force is ‘institutionally racist’, which was the conclusion of the 1999 Macpherson Report into the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe called for a change in the law to allow positive discrimination

‘A third is still a very large number. I am concerned about that,’ Sir Bernard told BBC London Radio.

‘I have argued for a change in the law.

‘I would like to have the Northern Ireland system which was 50/50 when the RUC changed to PSNI, what they said is we can only recruit Protestants if you recruit Republicans or Catholics...

‘They only had it for a limited time, they have not got it now.

‘I would argue, say for five years make it 50/50, because sadly even though we’re recruiting now and we are doing well, I think about one in five of our new recruits will be from a minority.

‘But at that rate we won’t get there and I think that a 50/50 scheme for a short time would be a good idea.’



Last year Assistant Commissioner Simon Byrne held talks with the Government about changing the law to boost the recruitment of minority applicants.

But the force has been held back by current race relations legislation which prohibits any discrimination on the basis of race.

When asked if this amounted to positive discrimination, Sir Bernard replied: ‘It wasn’t in Northern Ireland and I see no reason why it should be on the mainland.’ His comments come as the Met is embarking on a huge public recruitment drive for 5,000 officers over the next three to four years.

About 10 per cent of the Met’s 32,000 officers are currently from an ethnic minority.

But in a new BBC poll, four out of five Londoners said they believed it was important that the Met police reflected the ethnic make-up of the capital.

Sir Bernard, pictured at a passing out parade last year, said he wants to lead a force that ends up 'looking and feeling' like London

Senior officers fear the mainly white face of policing risks damaging relations with minority communities and also makes the police less effective in fighting terrorism.

But there are fears that the best candidates could be overlooked due to the colour of their skin.

The Met Police Federation has said it was opposed to positive discrimination.