On 17th August latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have highlighted that officers from black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are extremely low in Welsh police forces.
According to the ONS, all four Welsh police forces have a lower percentage of BAME officers in proportion to the communities they serve. In Dyfed Powys Police, 1.3% of its officers are BAME compared to 2% of the population. Of the 12 BAME officers only two are women (both at constable level). In Gwent Police, 2.2% of its workforce as BAME people compared to 3.9% of its population. Between March 2019-20 the force had only one BAME female officer and 27 men. Only one of these men is above the rank of constable. North Wales Police has 0.9% BAME officers compared to 2.5% of the population. It has only two female officers who are BAME. South Wales Police has 2.6% BAME officers compared to 6.6% of the population. There are 22 female officers, only one of which is above the rank of sergeant.
The figures in Wales show that not only is there a serious lack of people of colour within the police, there is also an even larger shortfall in BAME women. It has also highlighted that the higher ranks of the police career ladder are pre-dominantly held by white officers and that men and women from BAME backgrounds are languishing at the bottom. In the whole of Wales there are just seven BAME officers above the level of inspector and just one of those is a woman.
Recent figures also observed the lack of BAME officers in Cambridgeshire. Home Office data notes there were 71 BAME officers in Cambridgeshire Constabulary at the end of March this year– up from 60 the previous year and accounting for 46.2 per 1,000 officers whose ethnicity was recorded. But a recent analysis by the Government Statistical Service shows that is only half what it ought to be, with 88.0 per 1,000 of the local population being BAME.
