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New race row emerges within Metropolitan police

29/06/2008

A new race row has emerged within the Metropolitan police over the alleged poor treatment of Muslim police officers.

The capital's police service was already embroiled in claims of racial discrimination levelled by assistant commissioner Tarique Ghaffur against Met chief Ian Blair.

The Observer newspaper cites an email to the home secretary written by the national association for Muslim police's president, Zaheer Abbas, to home secretary Jacqui Smith which speaks of Muslim police officers having poor promotion prospects and being ignored by fellow officers.

The letter speaks of 20 police forces out of 43 refusing to take part in a questionnaire on the treatment of Muslim and black officers in spite of an extension to the deadline. Information from the 20 that did respond to the survey indicated feels of racial tensions, according to the newspaper.

On the question of the survey Mr Abbas asked Ms Smith: "Why were some forces unable or unwilling to cooperate, while others completed in full and on time? Why did some forces refuse to complete on grounds of the pretext of the Data Protection Act, while others said they did not have the time to take part?"

In the email, Mr Abbas also claimed officers of the Islamic faith were being "overlooked" and "potentially discriminated against" in promotion matters and called for a review into staff upgrade procedures.

In a statement, the Association of Chief Police Officers said it was for equality among all officers, adding that further cooperation was needed to address structural and cultural problems that could result in some people being unfairly treated.

"Chief officers are united in their desire to lead forces whose staff better reflect the make up of our vibrant and diverse population. Some time ago we argued that, for this to happen more quickly, the law needed to be changed, possibly temporarily as in Northern Ireland, to allow for recruitment according to local needs," it stated.