Career prospects alienate potential minority recruits

A LACK of career prospects and the cost of signing up to the service has made policing an unpopular choice among people from black and ethnic minorities, the Police Federation of England and Wales annual conference has heard.

Che Donald, of the Federation’s equality sub-committee, (pictured) said: “The Government is not doing itself any favours with austerity and there are problems with job prospects, career progression, promotions and pensions.”

“The police service is not looking attractive to black and ethnic minority candidates because of the current climate in relation to austerity and the constant problems around policing.”

Black and ethnic minorities make up around 5% of the service, but around 16% of the population, the conference was told.

In March 2014 the police service was 128,000 police officers strong – although BME officers made up only 5% of that. This accounts for 6,715 officers – of which around 3,500 were in the Met.

Mr Donald added: “The starting salaries for police constables have gone down – how can the service expect to recruit more officers from black and ethnic minorities?”

The starting salary for a police constable is £19,000- down from £22,000 in past years.

“The police certificate is also a barrier. People are expected to undertake this in their own time at their own cost.”

The certificate – which all police officers must complete if they want to join the service – costs around £1,000 to apply for and will be a barrier to those from less well-off backgrounds, Mr Donald said.

“Show me the role models and leaders. Show me the BME role models in the upper echelons of the police service. If you look at the top of the Police Chiefs Council, it’s male, pale and stale,” he said.

Insp Kam Bria, of the College of Policing’s BME Progression 2018 Programme, warned that it was an “operational policing imperative that we start to do something about this”. He warned that feelings of distrust among communities could simmer and that over time community tensions could erupt.

He added: “Here we are in 2015. We are probably at about 15-16% of a visible minority [in the UK] and that is not including the Slovakian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Romanian, and Polish people who make up 2 million of our population.

“If we use that data and start projecting forward, in 2050 our black and ethnic minority population will be about 30%. And when it comes to victims of crime, vulnerable people, missing persons, mental health and violence, I think we need to ask the question – “are we going to meet the needs and expectations of our public and will they trust us as a police service?”

There is also a problem with representation in specialised posts, the conference heard, with under representation of BME officers in roads policing and minority officers making up just 2.5% in firearms units.