Police forces 'block race audit'

[Uthman]

Police forces are accused of blocking inquiries into discrimination against black, Asian and Muslim officers.

The Association of Muslim Police is auditing the distribution of minority officers by rank and specialism.

But 20 of the 43 forces in England and Wales said data protection rules prevented them from responding and the AMP is to ask ministers to intervene.

The Association of Chief Police Officers says forces work hard to tackle all forms of discrimination.

The association is to write to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith on Monday to ask her to intervene.

It says it will speak to the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) to see if it can persuade those forces which have not taken part in the audit to do so.

Junior ranks

It says if that fails it will make a Freedom of Information Act request.

From the information it has received, the association says it found 95% of black, Asian and Muslim officers were in the most junior ranks and very few were in specialist postings.

Some forces had very few Muslim officers in units set up to tackle terrorism or in Special Branch and others had none.

In his letter, sent to Ms Smith and all the chief constables, association president Zaheer Ahmad asks: "Why were some forces unable or unwilling to cooperate while others completed in full and on time?

"Why did some forces refuse to complete on grounds of the pretext of the data protection act, while others said they did not have the time to take part?"

Reliable data to track progress and measure success was essential to ensure there was equality, he added.

Racism review

The letter came to light after it was leaked to the Observer newspaper.

The association is urged Ms Smith to order a review of racism in the police before the 10th anniversary of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.

A spokesman said the audit revealed: "We still do not have the level of diversity that the public rightly expects."

Progress on diversity was "painfully slow", he added.

The letter continues: "Muslim officers are being overlooked, potentially discriminated against in promotion or are failing to receive the necessary training and personal development that would allow them to rise through the ranks."

In a statement, Acpo said forces across the UK worked hard to make sure all forms of discrimination were tackled head-on.

Source

[Uthman]