Attack on police over women in force

SENIOR officers at North Yorkshire Police have been accused of sex discrimination after plans were revealed to ensure just over a quarter of the force's officers are women.

The proposals have provoked strong condemnation after a target to ensure only 27 per cent of the force's officers are female has been included in a draft policing plan.

Coun Ruth Potter, a member of the North Yorkshire Police Authority, claimed that the proposals were "not acceptable" and maintained the force would not be able to represent modern society effectively.

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She claimed that a new equality standard for the nation's police service aims to ensure better recruitment and retention of under-represented people in society, including women.

Coun Potter, a Labour councillor in York, said: "In North Yorkshire we have a lot of work to do in this respect. The new target of only 27 per cent, believe it or not, is the current level of female officers and therefore represents no progress at all.

"I don't regard this as acceptable in this day and age, and it suggest to me that the police has a very long way to come before it can say it has truly modernised and represents the public effectively.

"There are differences in culture between male and female dominated professions, but making workforces more balanced can improve those cultures. How can a police force be effective if it is not representative of those it claims to represent?

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"Unfortunately there are still men in the police who would dismiss the importance of women to the organisation, and whose attitudes should have been retired a long time ago."

No-one was available for comment from North Yorkshire Police last night. Details of the number of women officers in the force were also unavailable.