E-Paper
Whites claim racial discrimination
In a backlash against the Met drive to encourage ethnic minority recruits, many white officers have launched legal actions.
In a backlash against the Metropolitan Police drive to encourage ethnic minority recruits, a record number of white police officers are launching legal actions. They claim they have been victimised because of the colour of their skin, and are being overlooked for promotion.
Ray Powell, a black police leader and the president of the National Black Police Association, warned that moves to end the culture of casual prejudice were backfiring. He called it 'a ridiculous' pressure to hit strict targets for recruiting black officers and said there was a risk of undeserving candidates being hired to boost the force's record on race.
About half of the long-running race cases being taken to employment tribunals by Met officers now involve white complainants, according to evidence submitted to the Morris inquiry, which is examining the force's treatment of its staff.
During the inquiry one officer said that "if you are from a [visible ethnic minority] whatever you want, you can have," according to a report in The Observer.
Following the Macpherson inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence murder, the Met has been under intense pressure to hire more black officers. It has a target for 25 per cent of the force to come from the ethnic minorities by 2009, so that it reflects London's population as a whole.
Powell said with current progress that would require up to 80 per cent of new recruits to be black and Asian, "which is ridiculous". He suggested that targets should be reduced. Instead, Met should have black recruits rising through the ranks on merit, rather than allowing substandard applicants to be taken on. He said: "There is a danger of black officers being set up to fail: human nature being as it is, there is a risk that the standards may be lowered."
"I would rather see work on a sustainable environment first of all for black officers within the police, as opposed to carte blanche recruiting people into an environment where they won't be able to be sustained."
About the Met's "positive action" drive Powell said: "If you were to ask anybody in the police service what positive action is, they don't have a clue. Therefore, they interpret it as action against them. They feel we have got these black officers getting everything, and apparently getting a leg up when in fact they are not."
During the Morris inquiry, which is now considering its verdict after six months of hearing testimony from more than 50 witnesses, one officer complained: "The perception is that black officers are getting a promotion only because they are black."
Led by Bill Morris, the former Transport and General Workers' Union leader, the Morris inquiry has received complaints of black officers being victimised for trivial offences, such as appearing on parade in a short-sleeved shirt instead of a long-sleeved one. Several officers want the Met to "slow [its reforms] down a bit and look at white officers. They are forgotten."
The Nottinghamshire branch of the Black Police Association, told the inquiry that the promotion of one local Asian sergeant prompted six white rivals to sue for racial discrimination. Jan Berry, chair of the Police Federation, reported complaints from white officers in Greater Manchester about the handling of disciplinary proceedings following a BBC undercover documentary, which filmed a recruit at a training centre wearing a Ku Klux Klan-style outfit. Esme Crowther, head of the Met's employment tribunal unit, told Morris that seven out of 15 race cases of more than two years' duration now involve white officers claiming to have been victimised. Most objected to being disciplined when they claimed visible ethnic minority officers had not been.
The inquiry was set up by the Metropolitan Police Authority following the cases of Sergeant Gurpal Virdi - sacked for allegedly sending himself hate mail, but reinstated after a tribunal hearing - and Superintendent Ali Dizaei, paid £80,000 compensation by the Met after accusations against him were dropped after four years and an investigating costing £7 million.
