By IRNA,
London : The British government is to intervene in the race row that has been convulsing the country’s biggest police force, after black officers announced they were advising ethnic minorities against joining London’s Metropolitan Police.
Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, expressed disappointment with the boycott announced by the Metropolitan Black Police Association (MBPA) but said the government would carry out a nationwide assessment of how ethnic minorities are treated by the police.
“We need a police service which understands the communities it serves and represents those communities and the whole country,” Smith said on Monday.
She said Police Minister, Vernon Coaker, would carry out a rapid, two-week examination of the recruitment and promotion prospects of minorities.
The MBPA called for a formal boycott of the Metropolitan police, saying the force was so riddled with discrimination that ethnic minorities should not apply to join it.
Chairing his first meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA), London mayor Boris Johnson also announced he was ordering an inquiry into the issues raised by the MBPA.
Johnson was in dispute with Smith last week when he sacked Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair in his first act when taking over the chair of the MPA.
The race row flared over Blair suspending Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur after he started legal action last month alleging discrimination.
Was followed by the suspension of Iranian-born Commander Ali Dizaei, the second highest-ranking Muslim police officer, who has previously claimed that there had been a “witch-hunt” against him.
A Panorama documentary screened by the BBC on Monday night found widespread dissatisfaction among ethnic minority officers, with 72 per cent of BPA members surveyed by the programme claiming to have experienced racism at work.
Some 60 per cent also said that they felt their career in the police had been hindered by their race, with around the same number saying the situation had stayed the same or got worse in recent years.
Mike Fuller, Britain’s first black chief constable, told the programme he and other ethnic minority officers had to work twice as hard as white people.
The MBPA has won support for their boycott from the Society of Black Lawyers, which has also alleged racial discrimination in their profession.