Why Ethnic Communities fail to see the Police Force as a Career

Police reform and issues of police recruitment have become more prevalent following replacement of the NPIA by the College for Policing as the 'professionalisation' of the police force gathers momentum. Despite, these proposals for reform, the resignation of Chief Superintendent Dal Babu, raised more questions about police services' failure to recruit diverse and representative police officers. Dal Babu argues that:“We have not managed to replicate the communities we serve. Our major cities are majority ethnic minority and yet the police force remains stubbornly white”. Indeed, the Winsor Review raised similar concerns about the recruitment of ethnic minority police staff (Home Office 2012). As academics we are interested in looking at the reasons and causes of why ethnic minority communities decide not to join the police force.