Wednesday, March 9 2005 10:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Holding that racism is still a problem in the British police, a Government appointed panel yesterday (Mar 8, 2005) suggested creation of a new disciplinary offence of "racial misconduct" to combat bigotry in the force.

Progress has been made in the six years since an official probe concluded that London's Metropolitan Police force was riddled with "institutional racism," former director of public prosecutions, Sir David Calvert-Smith, who authored the report, said.

He wrote the report for the Commission for Racial Equality, an official body. It was commissioned in October 2003 in the wake of the BBC documentary, The Secret Policeman, which highlighted racist behaviour among police recruits in several forces.

"There are still areas which need substantial improvement in order to create the kind of multiethnic police force we need to police a multiethnic society," he said.

The report said that a new disciplinary offence of "racial misconduct" should be created to combat bigotry in the police.

The training conducted to root out racism was seen by some officers, including some of those responsible for providing it, as a "politically correct" add-on, which turned them off the idea of ethnic diversity.

Ethnic diversity training was "seen by many officers, and even by some of those who delivered the training, as a kind of politically-correct injection, rather than being integrated into the work of policing", he said.

"In some instances, it did more harm than good. It actually turned people off the idea."