West Yorkshire Police has reportedly been prioritizing ethnic minority applicants, potentially contravening UK equality laws
West Yorkshire Police in the UK has come under scrutiny for its recruitment practices after its chief said he wants to “discriminate” against white job applicants and hire more ethnic minority officers, The Telegraph has reported.
The recruitment practice seeks to increase diversity in the police by prioritizing applications from ethnic minority candidates, the outlet said on Friday. The force allows individuals from underrepresented groups to submit applications year-round, while white British applicants must wait for specific recruitment windows.
The approach reportedly aims to address the disparity between the 9% of officers from minority backgrounds and the 23% representation of these communities in the West Yorkshire population.
Chief Constable John Robins of West Yorkshire Police has been pushing for changes to British laws in a bid to increase the number of officers from ethnic minorities in his force.
“It worked in terms of religion in Northern Ireland. We’ve tried really, really hard over many decades, especially in the last five to 10 years, but there’s just systemic issues around applications. I think the time has now come that legislation should change so that we should [use] positive discrimination,” the outlet quoted him as saying.
West Yorkshire Police is pausing applications from white British candidates while allowing year-round applications from under-represented groups such as Black and Asian people. According to the article, applicants were ranked in tiers, with Black and South Asian candidates in the ‘gold’ tier and East Asians in the ‘silver’ tier.
Meanwhile, applicants classed as ‘white others’ — including those from Britain, Ireland, and Eastern Europe — were placed in the lowest ‘bronze’ tier.
The recruitment policy has raised concerns about so-called positive discrimination, which is considered illegal in the UK, and has drawn sharp criticism, with Conservative MP Neil O’Brien labeling it as “racist.”
“What West Yorkshire police are doing with their racist hiring policies and division of different ethnic groups is skirting the edge of the law,” he told The Telegraph.
“With gun crime in West Yorkshire at a record high, many people might think local police might have more important things to be focusing on.”
Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has also criticized the approach, saying that Britain has a “serious problem” with “anti-white discrimination.”
“It cannot stand that a police chief is openly pursuing racist hiring policies and making political statements,” she wrote on X on Saturday. “Decisions are being made by unaccountable people who have been captured by woke ideology.”
The policy follows reports that West Yorkshire Police spent £1.4 million ($1.8 million) “patronizing” the public with diversity staff. The force reportedly employs 19 diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) officers and spends £361,000 ($476,000) on their training.
