One of Britain's top black officers has clashed with Sir Ian Blair over so-called positive discrimination among British police.

Keith Jarrett, the president of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), reiterated his call for affirmative action to boost numbers of police officers from minority backgrounds.

Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Ian Blair has dismissed the call for positive discrimination as "yesterday's solution" saying that the number of officers from ethnic minorities was already increasing.

But Mr Jarrett has criticised that suggestion, claiming that even the figures for black and Asian officers in London are not acceptable.

"The targets that were set for London are not what [Sir Ian's] achieved," he told the Today programme.

"Certainly he's achieved more in London than anywhere else but that doesn't mean that it's got to the figure that's needed in London.

"Other chief officers are trying a number of things to deal with it but it doesn't appear to be working throughout the country."

Mr Jarrett, who has been involved in a debate of the issue at the NBPA annual conference in Bristol, went on to use the biggest city in the south-west as an example of the problem facing the country.

"Just take where I am right now in Bristol; we have a situation where the force has got just over 5,000 officers, of that we've only got 100 or so, I think it's 102, that are from a minority ethnic background," he said.

"When you consider how long minority ethnic people have been in Bristol, it's just not good enough."

Speaking about the issue yesterday, Sir Ian said he was against positive discrimination because it was "fraught with difficulties".

"There must be another option and in the Metropolitan police we've seen the other option develop before our eyes," he said.

"The only way we're going to persuade groups of people to join the police service is by giving them a decent standard of service and have a natural stake in it."

The only black chief constable in position currently in Britain is Kent police's Michael Fuller, who was appointed in 2003.
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