One of Scotland Yard’s most senior Asian police officers today accused the force of failing to understand the need for more ethnic minority recruits.
Chief Superintendent Dal Babu, who retires from the Met today, said senior officers needed to be more imaginative in recruiting black and Asian officers.
He said: “I think a lot of senior officers just do not understand it, that’s the challenge. Too often the response from senior ranks is to place an advert in The Voice newspaper or the Asian Times. I think we need to be more imaginative.”
The borough commander for Harrow, right, who is stepping down after 30 years, said the Met had made great improvements in combating racism in the ranks from the time he joined in 1983 when racist name calling was commonplace.
He said: “It was pretty brutal. People would openly call me names and at times it would come to fisticuffs.
“There were several times when I thought of leaving, but I loved the job. I have always been a bit of an outsider but I have had a great career and a fantastic time.”
But even today, he said, there were specialist departments in CID and firearms which were still “almost devoid of black or Asian faces” while there are just four senior ethnic minority officers in the force.
