Commission warns of continued police racism

The commission published a major review of the police's attitude towards race and efforts to stamp out racism in the 10 years since the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.

Black officers still believe that specialist squads are mired in a Life On Mars-style "canteen culture" and are dominated by white middle-aged men, equality chiefs said.

One black officer recalled applying for a job as a race and diversity trainer with one of the country's largest police forces. He told the commission that the head of equality and diversity training had said of his appointment: "That's good, I got my black one."

Later, on learning the black officer was gay, the same man said: "You haven't got a wooden leg, have you? Then you'd have the full set."

The commission's director John Wadham welcomed "significant improvements" that the police had made in the past 10 years to deal with racism, but he said more was needed.

"There are still worrying areas which the police need to address, such as changing the 'canteen culture' and properly monitoring stop and search and the DNA database," he stressed.

The police service came under fire for the disproportionate number of black men whose details are on the DNA database, at around 30 per cent compared with 10 per cent of white and Asian males.

The report further criticised the fact that black people are still seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.