ONE of Britain’s largest police forces has been criticised for a “tick-box”; diversity drive that encouraged people with no GCSEs and little or no English to apply for the force.
A whistleblower at told how the force’s “Positive Action Team”; was tasked with targeting ethnic minority communities – often outside supermarkets – and collecting names regardless of whether the individuals were remotely qualified.
The source told Talk “It didn’t matter if they couldn’t speak English or had never sat an exam – it was all about getting ticks in boxes”;, the former police recruiter told this station.
“If you got 40 names in a day, the bosses would say ‘great!’”;
“The Positive Action Team was then made up of around five to six full-time staff, and would focus on heavily Muslim communities across Manchester.
“We’d be told: ‘Get down to Lidl in Rusholme today, and get as many details as you can’.”;
While not explicitly told to target Muslims, “it was obvious from where we were sent,”; the whistleblower added.
GMP would then hold weekend workshops at their headquarters exclusively for ethnic minority applicants.
The sessions would offer help on how to fill in applications and boost their chances of making it through the process.
Despite the recruitment push, “only a very, very slim number”; of the sign-ups from the outreach events ever made it through.
In May 2022, GMP’s DEI Strategy report stated 47% of new recruits are female and 15.9% are from diverse ethnic communities.
A GMP source told Talk that the recruitment stalls outside supermarkets stopped about a year ago.
In a recent interview, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said: “Positive action here extends to proactively reaching out to groups and encouraging them to join. But we have single windows.
“Everybody’s entitled to apply at the same time. They’re all put through the same process. We choose the best people. And that is that.”;
