THE HEAD of West Yorkshire Police, John Robins, has advocated for a reform in the law to allow police agencies to use positive discrimination to employ more officers from ethnic minorities.
To increase the recruitment of Asian and Black applicants and other minority groups, he stated it is time for legal reform to make it possible.
Positive discrimination for Catholics was effectively adopted in the Northern Ireland police force after the Good Friday Agreement.
This was done to achieve a serious historical imbalance and was accepted by all communities in N. Ireland and is the only part of the UK where positive discrimination is possible.
Even though it is against the law more generally elsewhere, Robins claims that England and Wales should take similar steps to address these issues of representation.
He emphasised that following significant efforts over several decades, structural problems in the hiring process continue, necessitating legal reform.
The chief constable claimed that putting such a move into effect isn’t about lowering standards.
Instead, it would provide those from underrepresented groups who satisfy general criteria to join the police force with more possibilities.
With 16.26 per cent of new recruits hailing from ethnic minorities, West Yorkshire’s police force has seen a rise in racial diversity.
The overall proportion of representation for ethnic minorities has increased by a third to 8.6 per cent consequently.
As per the Home Office data, 91.9 per cent of police officers were white, compared to 81.7 per cent of the overall population as determined by the 2021 census.
In terms of police officers, individuals of Asian descent constituted 3.7 per cent, contrasting with the general population where they accounted for 9.3 per cent.
Similarly, the representation of black individuals in the police force was 1.3 per cent, compared to their presence in the general population at four per cent.
People with mixed ethnicity comprised 2.5 per cent in the force, slightly lower than their representation in the general population at 2.9 per cent.
For other ethnic groups, the proportion of police officers was 0.7 per cent, compared to 2.1 per cent in the general population.
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