Evaluating Operation Uplift

THE success of Operation Uplift varies across police forces in England and Wales. Overall, while some forces currently lack representation from ethnic minority communities, many are making improvements.

Comparing the percentage of BAME officers recruited through the process with the percentage of non-white officers in the workforce reveals some room for optimism.

This is especially relevant for forces such as the Metropolitan Police, City of London, and Leicestershire forces.

These three forces are showing signs of improvement by recruiting more ethnic minority officers since 2019.

Most forces appear to be tackling the lack of diversity. But there are some who critics would say are not improving enough.

Bedfordshire Police, in their recruitment of BAME officers, are both below their area and their current workforce.

Chief Constable Garry Forsyth said, “A targeted recruitment campaign transformed us from the third least representative to the third-most representative police in the country. However, there is still much more work to do.

“We know there are longstanding trust and confidence issues in policing nationally among ethnic minority communities, while from a recruitment perspective, we really struggle to recruit from black communities, in particular.”

Operation Uplift has given the police a chance to rectify the shortage of under-representative communities in the force.

Several forces have taken positive steps. The NBPA president, Andy George told Eastern Eye that the Uplift scheme has been beneficial.

He said, “The uplift team have been good at reaching out to the NBPA. They have been more open and engaged than they have in the past. This is about levelling the playing field and giving everyone a fair chance. There have been many positives from the uplift. We need to take the lessons

we have learnt forward.”