Home Secretary Jack Straw is right to insist that police forces in England and Wales set firm targets for the recruitment of officers from the ethnic minorities. The police force nationally needs to better reflect the cultural mix of the population in general, particularly in those parts of the country which, like Bradford, have what the Home Office describes as "higher racial diversity". As things stand at present, there is a long way to go.

Unfortunately, two big obstacles stand in the way of Mr Straw's wishes being fulfilled. One is an apparent reluctance on the part of people from the ethnic minorities to apply to become police officers, coupled with fears that racism is driving existing officers from the service.

Police forces clearly need to do a lot more to rid themselves of their reputation for institutional racism, both internally and externally, which is bound to deter would-be recruits from the black and Asian communities.

However, the West Yorkshire force, praised by Mr Straw for its efforts in improving community and race relations, has had more success than most in attracting applicants from the ethnic minorities. It has more than 100 of them on its waiting list but is unable to process their applications because of the other big obstacle - a shortage of funding.

But for the freeze on recruitment forced by a lack of cash, West Yorkshire Police would be able to shift a good deal further towards Mr Straw's new targets. If the Home Secretary wants those targets to stand any chance of being met, he needs to arrange for more money to be made available.

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