Police chiefs have been issued with an ultimatum to make tackling racism a top priority - or face Government intervention.

The warning yesterday followed a report which castigated forces nationwide for ignoring criticisms made more than a year ago and failing to put race at the top of the agenda.

The report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary contained a force-by-force breakdown of police policies in place to tackle the problem of racism based on a question- naire.

In response to the 27-question survey, Thames Valley Police said 11 policies were in place, 11 not in place, while the force was developing five.

A community and race relations programme is being developed and the force does monitor recruitment of staff from ethnic backgrounds.

It has also issued written guidance to staff making it clear each individual is responsible for promoting good community and race relations, as well as individual equal opportunities.

However, staff appraisal procedures do not test individuals' attitudes towards policing a diverse community. The force is also failing to monitor the development of staff from different ethic backgrounds.

The report also warned that the way police exams were currently marked, it was impossible to penalise candidates even if they displayed racist, sexist or homophobic attitudes. Home Secretary Jack Straw said the report showed many police chiefs had failed to respond to calls for an urgent re-think on race relations issued in an HMIC report entitled Winning the Race, published in 1997.

Last week, following the Stephen Lawrence inquiry report, which accused the Metropolitan Police of institutional racism, Thames Valley's Assistant Chief Constable Tim Davidson pledged to stamp out any existing racism among officers.

Yesterday, he added: "Thames Valley Police is giving careful consideration to the recommendations within the report. We are committed to improving our service to all our communities.

"We are also committed to making the force more representative of the people we serve through our recruitment processes."

The HMIC report covering 43 forces found:

* Some officers were still using racist language and behaviour towards colleagues

* Only 25 per cent of forces have conducted an investigation into local community and race issues

* Less than half of all forces test staff race attitudes

Her Majesty's inspector Dan Crompton, who led the inspection following recommendations made a year ago, said: "We were disappointed to find that progress has been less than satisfactory, with many of the original recommendations largely ignored and few forces placing the issue high on the agenda."

Story date: Tuesday 02 March

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