POLICING suffers a 1970s Life on Mars culture where racism, sexism and heavy drinking are commonplace among parts of the workforce, according to a new report by the equalities watchdog.
A diversity chief at one large police force was even discovered openly ridiculing a homosexual officer and declaring how he wanted to have sex with a secretary on his desk.
Ten years after the Metropolitan police was branded institutionally racist, some areas of policing still exhibit pervasive racism, says the report by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC).
Elite detective units dealing with counter-terrorism, firearms and robbery are dominated by “white, middle-aged men and old-fashioned work practices” that discriminate against blacks and Asians.
The specialist units are seen as closed shops by black and ethnic minority officers, according to the report which will be published tomorrow.
A senior government official said it showed many forces had made significant strides towards eliminating race and sex discrimination. But parts of the service still retain the macho canteen culture characterised by the hard-drinking, womanising DCI Gene Hunt in the hit detective show Life on Mars, set in the 1970s.
The EHRC report cites the example of a black officer at a job interview with the head of equality at one large force. “A secretary came in to give them a cup of tea. After she left the room, the equality chief remarked: “Look at the t**s on her - I’d s*** her over the desk.”
After the black officer got his job as a race and diversity trainer, the same equality chief told colleagues: “That’s good. I got my black one.”
When he learnt that the black officer was gay, he said to him: “You haven’t got a wooden leg, have you? Then you’d have the full set.”
Although the proportion of ethnic minority officers in England and Wales has risen from 2% in 1999 to 3.9% (5,511 officers) in April 2007, Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, will almost certainly fail to meet her target of 7% by the end of 2009.
The EHRC, chaired by the former broadcaster Trevor Phillips, uncovered evidence of “some good progress” in the treatment of ethnic minorities. But there was evidence that a “canteen culture” remained.
It cites an unpublished report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary saying there was a “sense of unfairness towards [black and ethnic minority] officers in specialist selection [which] was very strong.”
One senior black detective told the commission: “It’s seen as a play hard, work hard, drinking culture.”
The report adds: “This problem needs to be addressed urgently if the police are not to be stained with the accusation that some parts of the service are still only available to those whose face fits.”
source:the london times
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