Jarrett: Target minorities for recruitment

The president of the National Black Police Association (NBPA) said he believes positive discrimination should be used to help black and Asian police officers gain promotion and to increase recruitment from ethnic minority communities.

Keith Jarrett made the controversial call for affirmative action – which is currently illegal under the Race Relations Act – during the NBPA annual conference is Bristol.

Speaking in the wake of the statements, Mr Jarrett disputed claims made by Met Police chief Sir Ian Blair that positive discrimination was not needed because the number of ethnic officers was already increasing.

Mr Jarrett said: "Certainly he's achieved more in London than anywhere else but that doesn't mean that it's got to the figure that's needed.

"Other chief officers are trying a number of things to deal with it but it doesn't appear to be working throughout the country.

"Just take where I am right now in Bristol; we have a situation where the force has got just over 5,000 officers. Of that, we've only got 100 or so, that are from a minority ethnic background.

"When you consider how long minority ethnic people have been in Bristol, it's just not good enough."

Mr Jarrett has long been a proponent of affirmative action.

On a slightly separate matter, he argued this weekend that stop-and-search be extended further to target ethic minorities in an effort to tackle gun and knife crime.

Sir Ian Blair has dismissed the call for positive discrimination, describing it as "yesterday's solution".