West Yorkshire Police: More work needed on diversity says policing boss

Alison Lowe said much more needed to be done to increase racial diversity

Much more needs to be done to increase racial diversity within West Yorkshire Police, the politician in charge of policing has said.

The county's deputy mayor Alison Lowe said 8.6% of the force were from a black, Asian or minority ethnic background, up from 7.4% last year.

However, despite the small increase in numbers, Ms Lowe said the figures were still not acceptable.

West Yorkshire Police has said it was committed to addressing the issue.

Ms Lowe, who took up her post in 2021, told BBC Radio Leeds the force was working to combat the disparity.

"Since we came to office, about 1,000 officers have been recruited, and about 17% of those are from BAME backgrounds," she said.

However, Ms Lowe said recent census data showed that about 23% of "our communities" were from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds.

"It's going to take us decades to get to where we need to get to - so we need to continue the pressure and we need to continue the focus," she said.

'Demand positive action'

Ms Lowe, who became the first black female councillor in Leeds in 1990, said there was also a focus on recruiting more women, who now made up 39% of the force's police officers.

She praised the efforts of the force's chief constable, John Robins, in addressing issues around recruitment.

"We have got a chief constable who is prepared to put his head above the parapet [and] demand positive action.

"He knows that the best police force is one that looks like the people it represents," she added.

In a statement, a West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: "Even though our workforce is becoming more diverse, we still have a lot of work to do to attract people from under-represented groups.

"It is only by having a diverse workforce that we can be effective in preventing and reducing crime and supporting victims of crime in West Yorkshire," they added.

Nationally, there were 11,966 full-time equivalent officers from minority ethnic groups (excluding white minorities), making up 8.4% of the workforce, up from 8.1% last year, government figures showed.