Muslim officers in Scotland Yard are being routinely discriminated against, being overlooked in promotion and are “entirely absent” from specialist operations, an audit has found.
“Muslim officers are being overlooked, potentially discriminated against in promotion, or are failing to receive the necessary training and personal development that would allow them to rise through the ranks,” said the audit cited by The Observer on Sunday, June 29.
The audit, by the Demos think-tank and the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP), traced the treatment of officers of ethnic minorities in 43 police forces.
It found that only one chief constable of the 43 forces was Muslim or black.
It found that Muslim officers were almost “entirely absent” from specialist operations, such as counter-terrorism.
Some police forces do not even have a single Muslim working in terrorism or Special Branch.
Of the 300 members of the Association of Chief Police Officers, only eight belong to ethnic minorities, the audit said.
Only 32 out of 1,600 superintendents are black or Asian and only 0.7 percent of police officers were Muslim.
“The statistics speak volumes,” said NAMP President Zaheer Ahmad.
Britain is home to nearly 2 million Muslims.
Paucity
Police forces declined to cooperate with the audit.
Initially, only 11 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales replied to the questionnaire.
Even after extending the deadline by a month, only half of the forces – 23 - cooperated.
“Why were some forces unable or unwilling to co-operate, while others completed in full and on time,” said a letter sent to Home Secretary Jacquie Smith and all chief constables in England and Wales by the NAMP.
“Why did some forces refuse to complete on grounds of the pretext of the Data Protection Act, while others said they did not have the time to take part?”
“If the police are serious about ensuring that Muslim officers are able to rise through the ranks at the same speed as their fellow white officers, and ensuring that Muslims are deployed to counter-terrorism duties at a time of heightened national security, we must have reliable data to track progress and measure success.
“The ‘paucity’ of information ‘means that each individual case of discrimination, or alleged discrimination, can only be assumed to be symptomatic of the conditions facing Muslim officers across the UK.”
Ahmad, the NAMP president, called on Smith to intervene to end discrimination of officers of ethnic minorities by Scotland Yard.
“As we approach the tenth anniversary of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, progress on diversity in the police appears to have been painfully slow,” he said.
Lawrence, a black British teenager from South-East London, was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus in 1993.
A comprehensive inquiry in the case found that the Metropolitan police was “institutionally racist” in handling the case.
“We urge you [the Home Secretary] to recommend a review of these matters.”
Commander Shabir Hussain, of Asian origin, has accused Metropolitan chief Sir Ian Blair of sidelining black and Asian detectives and surrounded himself with a “golden circle” of handpicked favorites.
Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, Britain’s most senior Muslim officer, is also planning a legal action against Blair for being humiliated and subjugated by Scotland Yard.
“If this went to trial, the harm it would do to Muslim community relations would be tremendous,” a friend of Ghaffur told The Observer.
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