Fears over ethnic police numbers

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A warning has been sounded that the recruitment of black and ethnic minority police officers could suffer because of the economic climate.

As the Black Police Association (BPA) Cymru was launched, South Wales Police assistant chief constable David Morris said Wales had achieved its targets.

The nation has 78 black and ethnic minority officers.

But he said more needed to be done and he was concerned a lack of recruitment in the recession would hit numbers.

BPA Cymru is made up of the four Welsh forces and their respective Black Police Associations.

ACC Morris said it was an important step to ensure police officers of black and ethnic minority origin were fully supported in work and that more was done in terms of recruitment and gaining trust in all communities.

But he said that all forces would have to put in extra effort to ensure the number of black and ethnic minority officers continued to increase and did not fall, as was usually the case during recessions.

BLACK AND ETHNIC MINORITY POLICE OFFICERS South Wales Police - 43North Wales Police - 15Dyfed-Powys Police - 12Gwent Police - 8Total - 78<i>Source: Assistant chief constable David Morris</i>

"We are using the launch of the Black Police Association Cymru to urge chief officers and police authorities in Wales to take positive action to target black and ethnic communities and encourage people to apply," said ACC Morris, who represents Wales' policing for race and diversity.

"'Positive action' is where we encourage applications and we make sure people have a fair and equal opportunity and if necessary we provide them with coaching prior to assessment."

He said the process was not the same as "positive discrimination", when an employer discriminates in favour of a specific gender or ethnic group.

"It's about understanding our communities and better representing their needs," he said.

"Our communities want to be confident and trust the police service. We need to reflect that and encourage people, particularly young people, to apply to become police officers or police staff.

"We want people who are skilled and who have an understanding of those communities to come and join us."

When I joined South Wales Police 30 years ago there were just three black officers in the force ACC David Morris

ACC Morris said all four Welsh forces had achieved their targets in terms of black and ethnic minority recruitment, which were set in proportion to the local populations following the inquiry 10 years ago into the death of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993

But he said more needed to be done, including addressing the perception often held that the police force was predominantly "white and male".

"When I joined South Wales Police 30 years ago there were just three black officers in the force," said ACC Morris, who is also the lead for diversity training with the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo).

"Things have come on so much since then and policing today is totally different to 10 years ago. There has been change but we need to continue that change."

Roger Punnett, president of BPA Cymru, said he believed the new body would help the situation.

"BPA Cymru reinforces our commitment to embrace and celebrate diversity and be a conduit to enhance recruitment, retention and progression of under-represented groups within the police service," he added.