MUHAMMAD Qureshi will never forget the day he first stepped out on the beat as a fledgling police constable. The shirt, brilliantly white, was ironed to perfection and the buttons on the uniform were shiny silver.

Although proud of his career choice, his first day at work brought the usual feelings of self-consciousness and apprehension. For Qureshi, the fact that his was the only minority ethnic face among his peers added to that anxiety.

When he joined he says most Scottish forces, including his own, had no more than a few black or Asian officers within their ranks, mostly constables. He recalls that even in Strathclyde – Scotland’s largest force and the second biggest in the UK – the highest ranking minority ethnic officer was a sergeant.

However, an investigation by the Sunday Herald last week – decades after the introduction of the Race Relations Act and at least four years since the force was branded “institutionally racist” in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence and Surjit Singh Chhokar investigations – reveals that Scottish forces are still failing on the issue of race.

Using information gathered from all eight Scottish police forces and census data, the figures highlight an apparent glass ceiling for black and Asian officers within the service. Despite pouring millions into marketing itself as an equal opportunities employer, the figures reveal that few in Scotland’s burgeoning minority ethnic populations are attracted to life in the police.

For the first time, a comparison of black and Asian officers in the service to minority ethnic populations in Scottish society has also shown that it could be decades before all of Scotland’s forces reflect the community they serve.

From the hundreds of new recruits who went through police training at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan last year, 15 were from a minority ethnic background. In 2000-01, when criticism of the police’s commitment to race was at its peak, the figure was 21.

Police figures show that the most senior minority ethnic officer in Scotland is a superintendent at Lothian and Borders. According to the latest figures, the most senior rank in Strathclyde remains a sergeant. From a total force strength of 15,963 officers, only 118 are recorded as being black or Asian.

In total, there are 107 constables, eight sergeants, two inspectors and one superintendent.

While the number of white Scots is in decline, minority ethnic groups have been growing in Scotland since the census in 2001. Thousands of asylum seekers have been taken into the Strathclyde area while hundreds more have entered Scotland from the new EU accession states. Jack McConnell has also thrown his weight behind the Fresh Talent initiative to attract foreign students to stay in Scotland.

However, the census data reveals just how far Scottish police forces have to go before they can say they are truly representative of the community. While in Lothian and Borders, ethnic minority groups make up 2.5% of the total population, in the force they make up 1.1%. In Strathclyde the groups represent 2.7% of the population but last year made up just 0.8% of officers.

Figures from Strathclyde for this year show it has 142 black and minority ethnic (BME) officers, but HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, the police watchdog, cautions against using this total as the force has begun counting staff who fail to disclose their ethnicity in forms as being of black or minority ethnic background. Of all the forces, only Central can claim that it reflects the community it serves.

The results have led to calls for a radical shake-up of recruitment to the police in Scotland, including the temporary implementation of affirmative action and entry to the force for certain ethnic groups above the rank of constable.

Semper Scotland, a police support group for BME officers, is now to approach the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) to discuss such new approaches.

Within the force, black and Asian officers are damning about the lack of progress being made. In fact, progress has been so slight that Qureshi – not his real name – would only speak on condition of anonymity. The lack of BME officers within Scotland has also meant we are unable to reveal his force area or the year that he joined.

Nevertheless, the officer – who is still at constable grade – provides a revealing insight into a police service, which is at this moment advertising for minority ethnic recruits in an effort to bolster its ranks.

“When I joined, the highest ranking minority ethnic officer in Strathclyde force was a sergeant,” he says. “The most senior rank in that force is still a sergeant.

“You could argue that there are other officers who are BME who also have not been duly rewarded for their potential. But at the same time, you have to be somewhat cynical and ask whether sergeant grade is as high as we should be represented in our biggest force. I would argue not.”

He adds: “They [the force] have a wonderful ability to shoot themselves in the foot. In one breath they say, ‘We’re recruiting and we retain BME recruits.’ But what about the development?

“In my force there is a feeling that BME officers are being passed over from progressing up the ladder. I know it’s been reviewed, but the promotion system leaves a lot to be desired. There seems to be a glass ceiling.”

The findings come just weeks after a major report by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) concluded that racism was still at the heart of the police service in England and Wales. It disclosed that police forces south of the Border were still “frozen solid at the core” in their attempts to handle race issues.

The inquiry team largely blamed middle management, such as desk sergeants, for “paying lip service” to anti-racism measures. The investigation was launched in October 2003 in response to the undercover BBC documentary The Secret Policeman, which exposed devastating comments and images of extreme racism – including a recruit donning a Ku Klux Klan-style hood – within the police.

Sir David Calvert-Smith, the former director of public prosecutions who led the CRE inquiry, said after the inquiry: “More than two decades on from Scarman [the report into the Brixton riots] and over five years since Macpherson [the Stephen Lawrence inquiry], we should be at a stage where real measurable progress can be made on race equality …

“We welcome the improvements that have already been made … but the fact remains that every time you drill down you find that ice and, unless more is done, it won’t melt any time soon.”

In Scotland, the CRE launched a separate review of policing and race relations in September last year. The research, supported by the Scottish Executive, was also started in response to the BBC’s Secret Policeman documentary. Among the areas it will investigate will be the recruitment and employment experience of serving police staff, and public confidence in the police in terms of race relations.

The inquiry, due to report in the summer, will highlight areas of good practice but is expected to be critical about the amount of progress that has been made in attracting BME officers into the police service and their progression within the ranks.

Several suggestions have been made to solve similar issues within the force in England, including the introduction of affirmative action and having black and Asian officers offered entry into the police service above the rank of constable.

A change of law would be required to introduce such plans, but top officers have suggested that the fight against terrorism is being hampered by a police force that is “too white”.

Robin Iffla, a sergeant with Central Scotland Police and chair of Semper Scotland, has told the Sunday Herald that the time is right for an “open and honest discussion” about the adoption of similar schemes in Scotland.

“It’s a debate that we really need to have to ensure that we as a Scottish police service reflect the communities that we serve.

“BME officers believe the police should be an employer of first choice. Within Semper Scotland we are looking to develop a programme to best achieve those aims. Affirmative action is not about lowering standards. It is about taking action to redress an imbalance within the Scottish police service.”

Last month at Semper Scotland’s AGM, the issue of affirmative action was raised by Ali Dizaei, a Chief Superintendent at London’s Metropolitan Police. Dizaei, one of the UK’s most senior BME officers and who is also the legal adviser to the National Black Police Association, says: “In some areas it will take 70 years before the police will look like the community it serves. Either you sit back and say it’s terrible and maybe we should have more adverts, or you do something about it through affirmative action. This is an argument about police legitimacy.”

Prominent race campaigners have warned that large BME populations, such as the Asian community in Glasgow, are losing faith in the police in the wake of the introduction of the government’s so-called war on terror.

Many young people, who the police are trying to attract, are instead becoming resentful of the force because they feel it views them as terrorists.

Aamar Anwar, a human rights lawyer who trains the police on race issues, says: “There is already the perception within the Asian community that the police force is racist. The anti-terror legislation that has been brought in has set us back in terms of race relations more than 20 years. The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry might as well not have happened.”

Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, also warns that Muslims report racist crimes to his group rather than go to the police.

“Many young Muslims do not see the police as their own service. I’ve never heard of a young ethnic minority person say they want to join the police force. It’s not seen as a viable option,” he says.

Acpos refused to allow an interview with its spokesman on race and diversity, Paddy Tomkins, the chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police. However, it released a statement saying that it was “committed to encouraging people from as wide a range of backgrounds as possible to join the service”.

It adds: “Although the number of recruits from ethnic minority backgrounds has increased markedly in recent years, we recognise we still have work to do to meet the needs of Scotland in a time of rapidly changing demography. We are absolutely committed to meeting that challenge.”

03 April 2005