SURREY Police is being urged to recruit more officers and staff from ethnic minorities and reflect the make-up of the county more accurately, by its police and crime commissioner.

Statistics released under Freedom of Information in January 2016 for the UK’s 45 police forces, revealed that a white applicant had a better chance of getting a job than someone from an ethnic minority in more than two-thirds of them.

Figures for Surrey Police showed black, Asian and minority ethnic residents made up 3.7 per cent of the force and 9.6 per cent of the community; Sussex Police had two per cent compared to 6.3 per cent living in the county; and Hampshire Constabulary had 2.5 per cent compared to 6.7 per cent.

Surrey PCC David Munro has called for increased police diversity to be included as part of a parliamentary inquiry into the future of policing.

Mr Munro (pictured), who is also the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners’ national portfolio holder for Equalities, Diversity and Human Rights, has made a personal submission to the inquiry highlighting two issues as crucial to ensuring a police service that is fit for the future.

He said the inquiry needs to address police ranks containing far fewer officers and staff from diverse groups than in the communities they serve, and called for increased representation in senior policing roles and careful examination of policies, such as the proposed graduate scheme, to avoid inadvertent discrimination.

The PCC also called for more to be done to retain experienced police officers and staff, who are leaving mid-career.

“My personal belief is that far greater diversity is required to make police forces more representative of the communities they serve,” he said.

“At present, all minority groups are heavily under-represented, particularly in more senior positions, whilst the gender imbalance also increases the further up the rank structure you go.

“In my view, this can make a career in policing unattractive to too many people and leads to a huge pool of talent being unused. It also means too few officers and staff are available to act as role models and leaves forces in danger of struggling to understand the particular characteristics of minority communities.

“A diverse service has to be a better service. Although this situation is widely recognised and forces are making significant strides, clearly more needs to be done to make a sustained effort to recruit and retain officers and staff from those backgrounds.

“Policing also requires an equally diverse workforce in terms of skills and professionalism. In Surrey, the retention rate of experienced officers, especially those with detective and IT skills, is one of the biggest problems faced by the Force. I am sure we are not alone in experiencing this and realistically we cannot spend our way out of trouble – police funding will always be less than we would wish.

“The answer must lie in giving people as satisfying and inspirational a career as possible. This requires better leadership and more tailor-made career paths to unleash every ounce of talent.

“I also believe we need to move away from a culture that is quick to blame, slow to praise and greater recognition is needed that policing is a difficult task requiring more support from government, politicians, PCCs themselves and the general public.”