The Metropolitan Police

The Government’s Policing Uplift Programme is providing a very significant opportunity – the best in several decades – for the Met to address longstanding workforce issues around diversity. It could also fix some of the pressures faced in frontline policing that have resulted from the steps it took to manage a period of austerity in the last decade. But the Met has failed to plan for this.

Chapter summary
The Met has improved the ethnic diversity of its workforce and compares favourably to other urban police forces in England and Wales. But representation of Black, Asian and other ethnic minority officers falls far short of the diversity in London’s communities, and is even more unrepresentative at higher ranks or amongst women. At current recruitment rates it will take at least another 30 years to come anywhere even close to reflecting London’s ethnic diversity. Higher attrition rates amongst Black, Asian and ethnic minority officers further exacerbate this challenge. A more radical strategy is required to properly reflect London’s diversity in the Met, including tackling corrosive and racist myths about needing to ‘lower the bar’ to do so, and addressing the racism experienced by officers and staff in the Met. There is a systemically biased misconduct system and 46% of Black and 33% of Asian officers and staff saying they personally experienced racism at work in response to a Review survey. For Londoners, trust and confidence is lowest among Black and Mixed ethnicity Londoners and has been, persistently, for years. Black Londoners are under-protected – disproportionately the victims of homicides and domestic abuse; and over-policed – facing disproportionate use of stop and search and use of force by the Met. A huge and radical step is required to regain police legitimacy and trust among London’s Black communities.