ONLY three out of every one hundred West Mercia Police officers are black or ethnic minority, new figures have revealed.

Home Office figures show that in March this year, the equivalent of 51 full time black or ethnic minority (BME) officers were employed by the force – 34 men and 17 women.

There were only three senior officers.

Black and ethnic minority people make up 3.8 per cent of the population covered by West Mercia Police but that is not reflected in the total number of police officers, where only 2.6 per cent of officers are black or ethnic minority.

The Home Office data shows that out of West Mercia Police’s full time BME officers, 21 are mixed race. There are six black officers and 20 are Asian. The rest are from other ethnic minorities.

The figures also show that the force is getting less representative with two per cent fewer BME officers employed this year when compared with March 2017.

Ian Saunders, chairman of the Police Federation’s equality subcommittee said: “It is vital that the police service reflects the communities we serve to ensure we are able to police as effectively as possible.

“The Police Federation supports efforts to increase diversity, raise awareness and promote best practice about the issue.

“And we recognise that although there may be barriers to recruiting officers from BME backgrounds, more must be done to attract but also retain these officers and to positively support their career development to ensure that we are a service that is truly reflective of our communities.”

The Lammy Review, an investigation by David Lammy MP into the treatment of BME people in the criminal justice system, found that black and ethnic minority people often do not like engaging with the police as they do not feel represented.

The review says that increasing the visibility of BME people within policing is fundamental to ensuring justice

Across England and Wales, police forces have a disproportionate number of white officers.

More diverse parts of the country have fewer BME officers compared with the size of the black and ethnic minority population.