Colour prejudice against becoming a white police officer

[ianess]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucesters hire/5369876.stm

Marvellous......sorry.....we have to meet government targets and you're the wrong colour.

Is this the stage that this silly country has now reached?
What say others.

[Whickerman]

Look, your govt introduced legislation in Northern Ireland that meant the police force had to be (roughly) 50:50 catholic and protestant. And when there weren't enough Catholics applying, they restricted the number of protestant applications allowed to match, leaving the force understaffed for a time, and communities short of police.
So why does this surprise you...?

Personally, i think 'positive discrimination' stinks.

[admarlow]

Before I get some people going mad at me this is a true story.

A mate of mine wanted at join the fire brigade but was turned down for no real reason. A few weeks later on holiday I befrended a girl who works in HR at the fire brigade and she said unless he was gay/hindu/black/female he was unlikley to get in due to quotas. She suggested to claim to be gay, which he wouldn't. Has it come to this where people have to pretend to be something they are not inorder to get certain jobs, its positive descrimination.

[admarlow]

good on Matt Powell this country needs more people like him (maybe not the compo bit but the not take it lying down bit!)

[sp1814]

I disgree with fender62 on the 'it doesn't matter bit'. I would LOVE to see loads and loads and load and loads of Sikh, Hindu and black police officers...

I want it to be more like America, where it's not seen as 'selling out' to be a copper.

The more black faces you have, especially in urban areas, the more trust local communities will have in the police.

There are problems with using quotas though...it just breeds resentment. It's a lot more difficult (although in the end, more fruitful) to implement change from within...and to reach out to minority communities and build numbers that way.

[IWANOWENS743]

When I was unemployed, I applied to train as a tourism guide in the town I was born and lived in all my life. I was told I was not suitable as they wanted someone from the ethnic minorities! They wonder why racism is on the increase. It should be about the best person for the job regardless!!!

[anotheoldgit]

The "5 foot nothing" Police Officer, sent along to guard the Home Secretary at his recent meeting with the Moslims, prooves the point, he would not have got into the Police being that height, if he had been white.