Survey Debunks Myth That 'Black & Asian People Don't Want To Join The Police' | Good Morning Britain

foreign [Music] Britain has revealed that almost two-thirds of black respondents and half of Asian respondents said they would consider working for the police so why are we still not seeing more representation in uniform or former met superintendent Dal Babu is here the survey is fascinating and uh and heartwarming actually I found it to think that the the will is there the concern of course is is why then are we not seeing that representation particularly at senior level well I think Kate you make a very very valid point because this survey and I think we should thank you for doing this survey because it's blown a whole myth that the police have perpetuated which is those black and Asian people don't want to join it's not our fault and that's never been my experience my my nephew professional cricketer applied was unsuccessful though I was speaking to a colleague of mine um a black Chief superintendent his knee Supply didn't get through there are numerous cases where you think actually these are fantastic people they should be part of the organization so I don't think there's ever been a lack of people wanting to join and that's the reason why they didn't well if I give you an example yeah when I I was asked to do a project on lack of representation and I looked at some interviews and there's two people who have been interviewed there was a black man who's been interviewed he was specifically asked questions around his views on cannabis and he didn't get in uh there was a white man interviewed by exactly by the same panel and he wasn't asked a question about cannabis he had a conviction for a public order so he'd been involved in a fight and he was allowed in wow so was there something about the response to the question of the Cannabis that was an issue or do you put it down to race I think it was a race racism there yeah you have a black man there there was all the myths about uh black people smoking uh cannabis so he was asked about what's your view on legalizing cannabis now if you're going to ask that question of one person you would expect the same panel to ask a question of another person but they didn't so they didn't ask the white candidate and the white candidate had a conviction do you know what the conviction was I public order effects yeah yeah and so they were allowed that they were allowed in and I and I think in some ways it just for me it just epitomized the challenge we have so so what I think what your survey does very very clearly it shows this is it's on the police you know our communities are our diverse communities that have language skills have experience of living in diverse communities want to join it's how they're getting I mean I've been fascinated to hear what the police's response is to look at every single stage why fewer and fewer black and Asian people get through it every process because I mean the police you know goes without saying is one of the most important institutional important services in our country that can really to be representative I might think of you know black and Asian communities they look up to the police police officers we have we have and everyone should we all respect the police so it's really important that we have that diversity in that Workforce because supposedly when it comes to tackling crime and you know it would help having black and Asian people in that Workforce Now I can't understand why just simply on that basis if you're there to tackle crime that that isn't seen as being a huge benefit and therefore a real incentive to recruit absolutely I do I I don't think it's about sort of being nice this is a practical reason this is this is about making the police more efficient making our communities safer and I think it's a shame that it hasn't happened I think the McPherson report talked about a 25 Target you know it will take the Metropolitan Police almost half a century to be represented Jackie your Home Secretary and and very conscious of these issues when you were and certainly are very conscious of these issues now uh what is wrong with the process and did this survey that we've done and the respondents and the what came out of it does it surprise you in any way um in one way what surprises me uh is what Dell describes and I I think you know and I don't have any doubt that that is what you found and um it's also of course the case Adel as you rightly say that we have a model of policing in this country that is about policing by consent that sees the police as being from the community and part of the community and that's how you win trust and people are willing to come forward and Report crimes and act as as Witnesses Etc if you if people don't believe that police reflects the community then that the police will be less effective at protecting them and catching criminals so I I mean to be perfectly honest I don't know why the police have made insufficient progress as Dale says not only in terms of recruitment but also in terms of promotion and progression throughout the organization it's been 30 years 30 years since the death Stephen Lawrence and that McPherson report I mean we haven't got any better have we really well I don't know what the percentages are certainly within the Metropolitan Police compared to what they were 30 years ago I suspect that there is a higher percentage but as Nell says it's certainly not high enough if you look at the ethnic mix of the population in London I mean I don't know if your survey if you ask the same question to white people as to what percentage of white people would be comfortable working for the police because I mean that would be that would be quite an interesting comparison to make I mean I'm surprised that it it's actually Asian people are 50 I I would have actually thought if you'd said to me right what percentage would I thought I would have thought Asians would have been higher given all of the publicity that is given in the media to stop and search for example I would have expected the the black number to be a little bit lower yeah but if you look at the percentage of women now who are recruiting by the Metropolitan Police it's now 31 of police officers are female which I think will surprise a lot of people they have made progress there yeah but to get people say not enough so they can do it for women why can't they do it for ethnic minority yeah

Channel: Good Morning Britain

Views: 10,684

Keywords: good morning britain, breakfast show, news, morning news, gmb, good morning britain interview, itv, susanna reid, Talk Shows - Topic

Id: iL_7556kHUA

Length: 9min 17sec (557 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2023