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Asians urged to join police jobs drive

27/ 3/2003

GREATER Manchester's police chief has welcomed a "once in a lifetime" chance of recruiting hundreds of Asian and black officers.

GMP Chief Constable Mike Todd revealed up to 900 new police jobs will be up for grabs over the next 12 months as a result of extra funding and retirements from the force.

He told a special meeting of ethnic minority journalists that it offered him the best opportunity ever of making the force reflect the multi-racial population it served.

He said: "It is a huge opportunity. One of the things I have been criticising about the organisation is that we are not representative police force in Greater Manchester.

"This is a chance of a lifetime to recruit more ethnic minority officers.

"I don't care what people look like or what their particular ethnic background is, I just want to get a more representative police force."

Asked why he thought ethnic minority recruitment was still slow, Mr Todd said the poor image of police in the south Asian sub-continent might be affecting attitudes of UK Asians.

"It could be that young Asians feel we do not want them, but we really do," he added.

A total of 600 of the jobs represent extra officers GMP is recruiting after receiving extra funding from the Government and local authorities in Greater Manchester. A further 300 posts will be freed as a result of retirements.

The Chief Constable also revealed that his force had drawn up contingency plans for the outbreak of war in the Gulf.

He said if hostilities led to hate attacks on the Asian community he would be ready to put extra officers around mosques and other sensitive sites in the city.