Call for civilians to be police chiefs to end `white monopoly'

CIVILIAN CHIEF Constables should be appointed to head some of Britain's police forces to smash a "whites-only" monopoly of the upper ranks of the service, an Asian peer said yesterday.

Lord Dholakia, who chairs the National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders (Nacro), said black and Asian people had "not a hope in hell" of reaching Chief Constable by progressing through the ranks. He said: "It's very much Buggins's turn and closed shops because there are only 43 chief constables in England and Wales and so there are very few posts."

Lord Dholakia, a Liberal Democrat spokesman on Home Affairs, said people from ethnic minority backgrounds who had held senior positions in local authorities or with police authorities would be capable of managing a police force. He said: "Why is it that we always need serving police officers to be chief constables?

"To say it requires massive administrative change is nonsense. Directors of social services come from all walks of life. You don't always require a doctor to be minister for health, provided the person has knowledge and experience."

The comments prompted an angry response from the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). Tony Burden, the Chief Constable of South Wales and chairman of Acpo's race and community relations committee, said: "With a growing number of minority ethnic officers reaching senior ranks within the police service, there will, undoubtedly, soon be many who achieve chief officer status."

He pointed out that Tarique Ghaffur had already become an Deputy Chief Constable with the Lancashire Constabulary.

Mr Burden also "completely refuted" the suggestion that civilians could be drafted in to run police forces. He said: "It is vital that chief officers of police have a sound operational grounding and fully understand the complexities and sensitivities of policing diverse communities. It is not about running organisations for profit, or simply about a level of business expertise."

Lord Dholakia, who was speaking ahead of Nacro's Let's Get It Right; Race and Justice 2000 conference in London, which will be addressed by the Home Office minister Paul Boateng today, also applied his criticisms to the probation service. He said it could not be right that not a single chief officer of probation came from an ethnic minority background.

Lord Dholakia, 62, is a Justice of the Peace and a member of the Police Complaints Authority. "When are we going to see some role models for young black people in this country?" he asked. Lord Dholakia referred to Nacro research, which is to be published at the conference, which will showwidespread race discrimination in the criminal justice system. The research is particularly critical of the Bar Council and the Law Society for failing to "grasp the issues of race relations".

The report notes that 70 per cent of white legal trainees found satisfactory jobs in 1998, compared with only 14 per cent of racial minority students.

Lord Dholakia said: "There is no doubt that a number of criminal justice agencies have moved considerably forward but there are concerns over how far policies are translated into practical implementation."

The peer revealed that he had experienced discriminatory treatment at the hands of police, when pulled over while driving. "The first thing I was asked was where did I get the car from. I was flabbergasted," he said.

After establishing his ownership of the Volkswagen Golf, Lord Dholakia informed the officers that they had made him late for a talk he was giving on race relations at a police training college in Bedfordshire. He said he was promptly given a police escort.