West Yorkshire Police was today set tough targets by Home Secretary Jack Straw to recruit and retain more black and Asian officers.

The force will need to achieve a seven per cent increase in the number of ethnic minority officers on its books - equivalent to 345 officers.

West Yorkshire Police has 5,065 police officers, 134 (2.64 per cent) of which are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

But Mr Straw says the basic target must be to achieve a similar proportion of black and Asian officers to that of the population in each force area.

And West Yorkshire has the fifth highest ethnic minority population percentage in the country at 9.45 per cent.

Today's recommendations are made all the more difficult by a budget shortfall which has forced Chief Constable Graham Moore to freeze recruitment for at least a year.

The £7 million funding hole is equivalent to around 350 police officers - roughly the same number needed by the force if it is to achieve the Home Office targets.

Bradford race relations officer Inspector Martin Baines today welcomed the targets and pointed out that there were already more than 100 Asian applicants in Bradford alone waiting for the recruitment freeze to be lifted.

Insp Baines said: "Clearly we have done a lot of work in Bradford to try to attract officers from ethnic minority communities and recently ran a very successful recruitment campaign.

"Unfortunately, the force is no longer recruiting officers but we have a large number of applicants who are waiting for a chance.

"By setting a 10-year achievement date the Home Office has recognised this is a long-term problem which needs a long-term solution."

Announcing the targets today, Mr Straw said: "Some forces are clearly grasping the issue of policing and community race relations and are beginning to implement some effective strategies.

"But police service personnel must represent the community and be seen to be reflective of the community. When I say targets I mean targets, not quotas."

The Metropolitan Police has been told it must increase the number of ethnic minority officers on its books by 5,662 to 25.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, only four forces in England and Wales are on course to achieve their targets - Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire, Norfolk and Surrey.

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