Mayor to hold new inquiry on racism at the Met

Mayor Boris Johnson today announced an inquiry into racism at Scotland Yard as black police leaders ordered a recruitment boycott of the force.

The inquiry will examine claims that the Met is still beset with "institutional racism" - nearly 10 years after the claim was first made by the inquiry into the Stephen Lawrence murder.

Among its aims will be to decide if the recommendations of the 1999 Macpherson report into Lawrence have been implemented.

The review was launched as members of the Metropolitan Black Police Association urged ethnic minority applicants not to join the Met because it was racist. The group will boycott recruitment drives and use its " community network" to discourage recruits from joining.

The move coincides with a Panorama programme on racism in the police tonight in which Britain's only black police chief, Kent's Mike Fuller, says ethnic minority officers have to work twice as hard as whites to get on. The call for a recruitment boycott is a damaging blow to Scotland Yard coming just days after Commissioner Sir Ian Blair was forced out by Mr Johnson.

The force is embroiled in a race row which has seen two of its most senior ethnic minority officers effectively suspended. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur has been stripped of his duties after publicly denouncing the outgoing Commissioner as a racist, while announcing he is suing the force for discrimination.

Commander Ali Dizaei, president of the National Black Police Association, has been suspended while he faces three separate inquiries into misconduct allegations.

Alfred John, chairman of the Met BPA, told the Standard today: "I want to see action that will take things forward. I am pleased about the review but we have been down the road of reviews before and little has changed.

"This has not been about Ian Blair, it is not about an individual, it is about institutional racism in the Met, about the fact that in a recent chief inspector promotion board there were 70 successful applicants but not one of them was from an ethnic minority. That has been the case for the last three years."

Deputy Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, who is tipped to succeed Sir Ian, said he regretted the BPA decision. He added: "Much has been achieved since the Macpherson report was published but I am not complacent and recognise more must be done, not only by us but also with the Met BPA's full support.

"The MPS now has three times as many black and minority ethnic officers as 10 years ago and approximately 20 per cent of new recruits into MPS police training come from [an ethnic] background."

The Mayor's review will be led by Cindy Butts, a black independent member of the MPA. She described the BPA decision as disappointing, saying: "There is now an opportunity for change in the Met.

"We have a brand new administration which has set up an inquiry into race and faith discrimination in the Met and I hope the Black Police Association will see this as an opportunity and work with the inquiry. We cannot afford to allow this issue to derail police and community relations which are crucial in combating terrorism and preventing knife crime and the murders of teenagers in London.

"It is 10 years since the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and it would be foolish not to recognise that the Met has changed out of all recognition. But it is by no means perfect and there are a number of issues, particularly with the progression of staff."

On tonight's Panorama, Mr Fuller, who has two degrees and two postgraduate degrees, said he had personally felt the need to be overqualified in order to be promoted.

He added: "Ethnic officers will often have to work twice as hard to be recognised, to compete with their peers and that is a big concern."

The programme highlights an incident that took place two weeks ago in which two London Asian police sergeants in the British Transport Police were targeted for racial abuse.

Arriving at their station in Stockwell, they found the Ku Klux Klan emblem scraped into their lockers. BTP confirmed an investigation has been launched.

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