BRITAIN: Black and other ethnic-minority officers in the London Metropolitan Police still face serious discrimination, a new independent inquiry chaired by the former trade-union leader Sir Bill Morris has found.
The finding comes just five years after the damning Macpherson Report - set up after the killing of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence - accused the force of "institutional racism".
Presenting his report yesterday, Sir Bill praised the work carried out since then while warning: "More needs to be done in the building of confidence of managing difference and diversity."
His report called for radical and urgent change after an 11-month investigation commissioned by the Metropolitan Police Authority into whether ethnic minority officers were more likely to face disciplinary investigation, and whether their grievances were less likely to be dealt with than those of white colleagues.
The report concluded: "The statistics indicate clear disproportionality in the way black and minority ethnic officers are treated in relation to management of their conduct."
And it warned that a backlash against diversity was starting to emerge, which would be "catastrophic".
The inquiry was established after a number of high-profile cases involving ethnic minority officers raised questions about the Met's internal investigations procedures, in particular the clearing in 2003 of Iranian-born Supt Ali Dizaei on charges of dishonesty at the Old Bailey.
Mr Dizaei later claimed that a hard core of "very senior" officers were spreading "the cancer of racism" in the force, and yesterday's report recommended a full independent review of his case.
Among more than 100 recommendations referred yesterday to the Commission for Racial Equality were for the elimination of discriminatory management practice, a replacement of outdated police discipline regulations and a review of how the Met investigates complaints.
Sir Bill later told BBC News: "Some of the practices and procedures, which are centuries old in some instances, do not conform to the requirements of a modern-day police service and, that is what we are setting out to change."
The report also concluded that some managers lacked confidence in managing black and other ethnic-minority officers.
The Met accepted last night that it still had "a way to go" in dealing with discrimination, and the incoming Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, said he would be likely to implement the report's proposals.
Mr Ray Powell, head of the National Black Police Association, said: "There is a sense, especially amongst our Asian officers since 9/11, that they have been targeted disproportionately."