Yvette Cooper promises to help forces increase diversity, even if it means law has to be changed.
Police chiefs will be encouraged to favour ethnic minority candidates when it comes to recruitment and promotion, even if the law has to be changed to allow them to do so, under new proposals from Labour.
The pledge to help forces increase the diversity of their officers will be made by the shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, in a speech at the Police Superintendents’ Association of England & Wales (PSAEW) annual conference tomorrow.
Although the proportion of black or ethnic minority officers has almost doubled in the past decade, from 2.9 per cent to 5 per cent, progress has slowed between 2011 and 2013, according to the latest government figures.
“Modern effective policing relies on the police being able to work with and be trusted by local communities,” Ms Cooper said.
Many senior officers see increasing diversity as crucial to operational requirements, but just 5 per cent of police officers in England and Wales are from an ethnic minority background – compared with around 14 per cent of the population.
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