The National Black Police Association says police forces need to show more ambition in recruiting officers from BAME backgrounds, while the National Police Chiefs Council accepts “much more needs to be done”.
Home Office data shows Cambridgeshire Constabulary recruited 119 new officers in the nine months to the end of 2020.
But of the 117 new recruits who declared their ethnicity, just nine were BAME.
It leaves Cambridgeshire Constabulary with 78 BAME police officers overall, accounting for 4.8 per cent of the 1,619 officers whose ethnicity was recorded.
That is despite BAME people accounting for 8.8 per cent of the population served by Cambridgeshire Constabulary, according to mid-2016 population estimates – the latest to have an ethnicity breakdown.
It reflected the picture across England and Wales as a whole, where 7.5 per cent of officers are BAME despite people from BAME backgrounds making up 14.5 per cent of the population.
However, that was a slight rise from 7.3 per cent in March last year, and 4.7 per cent in March 2010.
Last year a study by the Police Foundation thinktank found more people from Asian and mixed ethnic backgrounds had increased, but black representation in police forces had “barely increased”.
And the NBPA president, Andy George, said the association remains concerned over the make-up of police forces in relation to the communities they serve.
He said: “The recent uplift in police recruitment has shown some improvements in this area but we would like to see a more ambitious drive to increase the number of officers and staff members from BAME backgrounds.
“We are unconvinced the current recruitment uplift will be used as the once in a lifetime opportunity it is, to reset the workforce composition.”
Chief Constable Nick Dean told the Telegraph last August: “Our aim within the Constabulary has always been to reflect diversity across our staff and officers in line with the population of Cambridgeshire. We know how important this issue is for community trust and confidence and we are committed to increasing our representation. We are listening to our staff and local communities in order to ensure they support us in this goal. We have already improved our diversity recruitment over the past 12 months but accept there is much more to be done.
“We have committed additional resources to ensure we are focussed on attraction, recruitment, selection, support, development as well as retention of BAME officers and staff.
“We have previously held successful recruitment events to encourage applications from BAME candidates and recently we have shared targeted recruitment campaigns to highlight job opportunities to BAME communities within Cambridgeshire.
“We would welcome applications from any under represented group and if you would like to find out more information about police recruitment in Cambridgeshire, visit: www.cambs.police.uk/apply.”
The NPCC said forces across the country have set action plans to ensure recruitment attracts people from minority ethnic backgrounds.
A spokesperson added: “We are actively engaging with communities who are currently underrepresented in policing to understand the barriers and address any misconceptions.”
Meanwhile, policing minister Kit Malthouse said police forces are “more diverse than ever before”.
He added: “The recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers presents a once in a generation opportunity to ensure they are even more reflective of the communities they serve.
“National diversity recruitment data is being collected and monitored for the first time ever, with appropriate support in place to help forces attract people from a diverse range of backgrounds.
“Where appropriate, we will take direct action to address poor performance in this area.”
The Government’s police recruitment campaign was launched in October 2019, with each force handed a target for the first phase ending in March this year.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary recruited 167 officers between November 2019 and December last year, the figures show.
Allowing for leavers, the overall uplift over the period was 114, meaning the force has exceeded its first phase target of 62 as of the end of 2020.
Across England and Wales, forces have a collective goal of recruiting 6,000 extra police officers by March 31.
By the end of December, 6,620 officers had been added through the hiring scheme.