The Student Room Group

Why do the police want to recruit more BME officers ?

Whats the need for it ? I see on the police website's when they recruit they say they want more people to 'represent the communities they serve' and wanted to recruit more polish people from polish communities. Now what I dont understand is this, if you have good social skills and work well verbally with others people will respond to you well despite what background, race you are.

I mean if you have a polish recruit who isnt that good with his mouth, it could do more harm than good in the community. So why do the police want to recruit more people from BME groups, not only that the police have been given targets to recruit more BME members.

Why ?
Reply 1
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Reply 2
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Original post by redleader1
Whats the need for it ? I see on the police website's when they recruit they say they want more people to 'represent the communities they serve' and wanted to recruit more polish people from polish communities. Now what I dont understand is this, if you have good social skills and work well verbally with others people will respond to you well despite what background, race you are.

I mean if you have a polish recruit who isnt that good with his mouth, it could do more harm than good in the community. So why do the police want to recruit more people from BME groups, not only that the police have been given targets to recruit more BME members.

Why ?


Because it says they want to reflect the communities they serve. This is important for two reasons.

1. They dont want to be seen as a racists or white male dominated organisation. Policing is by consent in this country so its easier if people see that it is not a racist organisation plus it offers equal opportunities for currently underrepresented minorities. If its seen as racists or just something white people do, then it inspires hostility, elitism and mistrust.

2. Assuming you have people that meet the required skill level, then they cna also add unique benefits to the force. Someone that was British/Polish might speak polish, be more trusted by the polish community and understand the culture better. Similira to someone who was Asian, Mulsim or Afro caribbean or a woman.

A white male policeman wouldnt have those unique aspects, even if he was otherwise competent. Theres no shortage of white males, there is of ethnic mnorities.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36348750
(edited 6 years ago)
People often respond better to people they can relate to, and race, culture etc can be a big part of that. That's not to say others can't do a job too, but it can be harder to. The police needs to be seen to be representative and 'normal' people wanting the best for the general public, or we end up with even more problems than we have now.
Reply 5
Original post by 999tigger


2. Assuming you have people that meet the required skill level, then they cna also add unique benefits to the force. Someone that was British/Polish might speak polish, be more trusted by the polish community and understand the culture better. Similira to someone who was Asian, Mulsim or Afro caribbean or a woman.

A white male policeman wouldnt have those unique aspects, even if he was otherwise competent. Theres no shortage of white males, there is of ethnic mnorities.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36348750


True but still the police can use language line, also sometimes due cultural differences some ethnic minority communities may not want to speak to someone who is say from a different area in Poland or Pakistan, as it may cause a cultural clash.
Original post by redleader1
True but still the police can use language line, also sometimes due cultural differences some ethnic minority communities may not want to speak to someone who is say from a different area in Poland or Pakistan, as it may cause a cultural clash.


Seriously languageline is not that practical for on the spot situations.

Someone from poland or pakistan could state that, they would certainly have more insight into their community.
Original post by redleader1
True but still the police can use language line, also sometimes due cultural differences some ethnic minority communities may not want to speak to someone who is say from a different area in Poland or Pakistan, as it may cause a cultural clash.


White Male British is not superior for all situations, just get used to that idea.
Reply 8
Original post by 999tigger
White Male British is not superior for all situations, just get used to that idea.


Im not saying they are, im just wondering why the BME population within the police is so low.
Reply 9
Original post by redleader1
Im not saying they are, im just wondering why the BME population within the police is so low.


Because to people from certain minority communities, entering the police isn't seen as an option, either because it's unachievable or stigmatised.
Original post by Gyoza
Because to people from certain minority communities, entering the police isn't seen as an option, either because it's unachievable or stigmatised.


Unachievable how ? Police don't have any formal education standard and you don't need to be a special or pcso. I know both specials and pcso who failed at the application stage.

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Original post by redleader1
Unachievable how ? Police don't have any formal education standard and you don't need to be a special or pcso. I know both specials and pcso who failed at the application stage.

Posted from TSR Mobile


Because a lot of the BME have little faith in the police, due to the massive disproportionality in things like stop and search practices (black people are something like 7 times more likely than whites to be stopped and searched) the secret policeman on the BBC explicitly said that they purposely stop and search the BME. There have been moral panics pertaining to the crimes of the BME and official statistics paint them in bad way. All of this not only makes them have little faith in the police (and thus less inclined to want to join them) but serious underrachievement in school and the self fulfilling prophecy may stray them away from succeeding legitimately and towards succeeding illegitimately.
Self-report studies which are arguably more accurate have showed that the Blacks have the same offending rates as whites, and the offending rates of Asians are even lower, yet media outlets have created breaking headlines saying otherwise.
Ha, take that criminology and A level sociology
Original post by cherryred90s
Because a lot of the BME have little faith in the police, due to the massive disproportionality in things like stop and search practices (black people are something like 7 times more likely than whites to be stopped and searched) the secret policeman on the BBC explicitly said that they purposely stop and search the BME. There have been moral panics pertaining to the crimes of the BME and official statistics paint them in bad way. All of this not only makes them have little faith in the police (and thus less inclined to want to join them) but serious underrachievement in school and the self fulfilling prophecy may stray them away from succeeding legitimately and towards succeeding illegitimately.
Self-report studies which are arguably more accurate have showed that the Blacks have the same offending rates as whites, and the offending rates of Asians are even lower, yet media outlets have created breaking headlines saying otherwise.
Ha, take that criminology and A level sociology


So one could argue the police are some what racist ? If they werent then things like the secret policeman etc wouldnt be released. Such as black people being more likely to be searched, having said that the police need to have reasonable belief to search someone you cant just grab a person and search them. So the police may not be playing by the rules.

Nice one, do you have a degree in Criminology
Diversity helps as it means that people from different viewpoints and different perspectives can help make the police force better. It's not just about being BME, it's about being able to understand the concerns of the marginalised.

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