PSNI recruitment quotas discriminate against ethnic minorities - Alliance

2.52.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 18th Aug 2006

Strangford Alliance MLA, Kieran McCarthy

Alliance Party MLA, Kieran McCarthy, has demanded that police recruitment quotas be scrapped as they discriminate against ethnic minorities. He brought this issue to the attention of the Secretary of State, Peter Hain, in today's Preparation for Government Committee and asked that diversity within the police be ensured.

The Strangford Assembly Member said: "The quota system should be abolished as it discriminates against people from ethnic minorities. The current police recruitment system is fundamentally wrong.

"Alliance has opposed these quotas from the start, believing that it was wrong for the government to break with European equality standards.

"Government should be encouraging people from ethnic minorities to join the PSNI. The quotas which are in place do nothing but alienate ethnic minorities and hinder their recruitment prospects.

"We recognise that the PSNI are making good progress in engaging everyone in policing; however, the issue of quota recruitment must be tackled. Diversity must be encouraged to ensure that policing is representative of the whole community.

"These quotas must be scrapped immediately, because of the damage that they are doing to people's confidence in PSNI system of recruitment."

ENDS