Met chief says ‘toxicity’ around DEI will not stop him recruiting more black and Asian officers

Vikram Dodd, The Guardian

Mark Rowley says inclusivity is crucial for the force and he refuses to be ‘blown off course’ by critics

Mark Rowley has said the Metropolitan police must recruit more black and Asian officers in order to gain the trust of minority ethnic communities in London, and vowed not to be “blown off course by the culture wars”.

The right has criticised drives for diversity, claiming they lead to lower standards. Rowley, who is commissioner of the Met and Britain’s top police officer, said that as a leader of a major organisation he was prepared to take a stand against the “toxicity” surrounding the diversity debate and criticised other leaders for “running away from the subject”.

In London, 46% of people are from a minority ethnic background, compared with 18% of Met officers. Rowley said he was driven by operational necessity, not politics, and believed “inclusivity” was vital to policing by consent, which is the philosophical cornerstone of British policing.

“We cannot police London effectively if we fail to recruit from all of London,” he writes in the Guardian. “Effective policing depends upon inclusivity. If you are committed to policing by consent which stands or falls on the trust of all communities, you cannot do without it.”

He writes: “Today, we are launching a major recruitment campaign. We have no interest in the politics and ideologies of the culture wars. Inclusion is an operational necessity.

“We cannot be effective if large sections of society do not trust us, do not work with us or do not see policing as a service that understands their experiences. An inclusive workforce is not a public relations exercise. It makes us better at protecting victims, catching criminals and preventing crime.”

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