Met commissioner launches push to grow Black, Asian officer ranks

Force has most Black, Asian officers in UK and biggest demographic gap

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley launched a major recruitment campaign aimed at increasing the number of Black and Asian officers in the London force, writing in the Guardian that the “toxicity” surrounding diversity debates would not derail the effort.

In an article for the newspaper, Rowley wrote: “Today, we are launching a major recruitment campaign. We have no interest in the politics and ideologies of the culture wars. Inclusion is an operational necessity.” He criticised “lots of leaders, both in the public and private sector” for “running away from the subject,” saying: “I think leaders need to stand up and make a practical case. We need to do what works for policing London.”

Rowley, who leads Britain’s largest police force, framed the recruitment push as a matter of operational effectiveness rather than politics. “We cannot police London effectively if we fail to recruit from all of London,” he wrote. “Effective policing depends upon inclusivity. If you are committed to policing by consent which stands or falls on the trust of all communities, you cannot do without it.”

He added: “We cannot be effective if large sections of society do not trust us, do not work with us or do not see policing as a service that understands their experiences. An inclusive workforce is not a public relations exercise. It makes us better at protecting victims, catching criminals and preventing crime.”

The Met remains disproportionately white relative to the capital it polices. Forty-six per cent of London residents are from a minority ethnic background, compared with 18 per cent of Met officers. The gap is starkest among Black officers, who make up 3.7 per cent of the force against 13.5 per cent of London’s overall population. The Met has the greatest number of Black and Asian officers of any force in the UK, but also the largest race gap between its composition and the population of London.

Responding to claims from some on the right that diversity drives lower standards, Rowley wrote: “Some will wrongly argue that recruiting from under-represented communities means lowering standards. It does not and they are wrong.” He said historical barriers had kept certain groups out of specialist roles and progression. “Removing those barriers is not favouritism, it is fairness.”

The recruitment push comes against the backdrop of long-standing findings of bias against the force. The 1999 Macpherson inquiry into the Met’s failings in the Stephen Lawrence murder case, whose killers took 19 years to be convicted, found the force to be institutionally racist. In 2023, the Casey report, commissioned by the Met itself, again found the force to be institutionally racist, as well as misogynistic and homophobic.

Rowley accepted the Casey report’s findings and said bias was systemic within the force, but rejected the label of “institutional,” saying it was politicised and ambiguous. Louise Casey and others subsequently warned that Rowley would struggle to repair the poor trust levels among Black Londoners when it came to the police.

The scale of the cultural challenge was underscored by leaked audio recordings from officers at Charing Cross police station. The officers were recorded calling for immigrants to be shot, bragging about excessive use of force, being dismissive about a rape complaint and making anti-Muslim and anti-women comments.

Responding to Rowley’s recruitment drive, Leroy Logan, who joined the Met in 1983 and was the first chair of the Met’s Black police association, said he would hesitate to join the force today. “The Met is seen as a safe haven for white supremacists. It has gone backwards since Macpherson,” Logan said. “It has lacked the leadership and the culture,” he added. “My younger self would be really questioning whether to join now. The Met has not helped itself to ensure the experience of black people at the hands of the police is as fair and just as for white people. People are not going to join just because Sir Mark Rowley says so.”

Rowley said he was braced for attacks from some on the left who may say his force is not going far enough, as well as from those on the right who are critical of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Many on the right have previously accused police of being “woke” and of “two-tier policing” — a claim that alleges people from ethnic minorities are favoured over white people. According to the Guardian, the available evidence does not support the two-tier policing claim.