More diversity in police is needed to get trust back, says Labour's Yvette Cooper

LABOUR'S Shadow Home Secretary has joined the calls for positive discrimination to boost the number of black and Asian officers in the police.

Labour 039 s Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper [GETTY]

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Yvette Cooper wants to see forces, including the Metropolitan Police, follow in the footsteps of the New York Police Department by setting "active" recruitment policies to increase diversity among their officers.

This could see specialist teams comprised of black and minority ethnic recruiters to target particular communities.

Ms Cooper's comments come after Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz told the Sunday Express at the weekend that the Met faced a “diversity crisis” as its workforce did not reflect the London population.

He told the newspaper that the next shortlist for the force’s Commissioner should be compelled to have at least one candidate from an ethnic minority background.

But the paper also reported fears among police bosses about a “white backlash” among serving officers who worry about being passed over for discrimination.

A confidential Met report from 2012, obtained by the Sunday Express, showed only 10 per cent of full-time police officers are from ethnic minorities although minorities make up about 40 per cent of London’s population.

Concerns over diversity within the police have come to the fore after a jury last week concluded that Mark Duggan, a black man whose death sparked riots across the country in 2011, was lawfully killed by police.

Labour has tried to address this problem in its policy review.

Today, Ms Cooper said: "The police need to reflect the communities they work in. But progress has stalled. The police themselves are calling for change. It's time for Government action to make it happen.

"As the Metropolitan Police have said following the Mark Duggan case, work needs to be done to build community confidence in policing, particularly in ethnic minority communities.

"That means we need to go back to neighbourhood policing - so that communities get to know and trust individual officers, and the police really know their communities. And we need reforms to stop and search.

"But it also means we need much more diversity in the police too - especially in our big cities."

 Keith Vaz [PA]

Ms Cooper said the Government must take action because progress in making forces more representative of the areas they police has stalled.

Around five per cent of police officers in England and Wales are from an ethnic minority background compared to around 14 per cent of the population, according to Labour.

"Although progress has been made in the last 10 years, it hasn't gone far enough - and more recently it has stalled. Ministers don't even seem to be interested - The ministerial group hasn't even met since the election.

"Policing by consent depends on trust between the police and every community. Senior police officers have made clear they can't do the best job policing each community if they don't also reflect, understand and enjoy the confidence of every community.

"The police and politicians have talked about recruiting more ethnic minority officers for a long time, but progress has stalled. Its time for much more determined action and a step change in reform."

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said David Cameron believes it is "important that there is greater black and ethnic minority representation across a range of professions and services and there is more to be done in that area.

He added: "With regard to positive discrimination I'm not aware that is his view but he is aware that more needs to be done across a range of professions."

When asked if the Prime Minister wanted to see a black or ethnic minority officer becoming Met commissioner, the spokesman said: "Does he want greater representations at all levels, including the most senior, in all professions? Yes, that is his view."

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