As a former police officer, I know Police Scotland's hijabs aren't going to change anything

London’s Metropolitan Police introduced the hijab 15 years ago and its representation in the ranks of the people it serves is still woeful

The London Metropolitan police introduced the hijab 15 years ago (iStock)

As a former police officer, I take a pessimistic view of the Scottish police force’s attempt to support more Muslim women into joining the force by approving the hijab as part of the official uniform. There’s a reason only 127 black, Asian and minority ethnic people, recently applied to join the Scottish force out of the 4,809 applications, and being a BAME former officer, I doubt this had anything to do with the hijab not yet being part of the uniform. In fact, the hijab was introduced in to my former force, London’s Metropolitan Police, 15 years ago and its representation in the ranks of the people it serves is woeful. In a global city that has a population of 40 per cent non-white, Scotland Yard is 90 per cent white. So why’s Police Scotland going to be any different?

UK police forces are constantly looking at ways to attract more BAME staff, as with the Police Scotland trying to increase its recruitment of minorities to meet the national average of 4 per cent to better represent the communities it serves. This is all well and good, but where the police leadership fail miserably, is to understand the reason why ethnic minorities don’t want to join the police in the first place, can’t progress within the force if they do get in, or leave not long after joining. For many people of colour like me, policing is simply not seen as a career and I know why.

For many BAME Britons, their first interaction or that of a family member with the police is often through stop and search, which overwhelmingly leads to no conviction, but leaves a bad taste in the mouth. This kind of targeted policing does nothing to attract minorities into the police, but alienates them, their friends and family, and undermines policing.

In April an incident took place in Glasgow in which more than 40 police officers and a helicopter turned up at the home of an Asian family, over a dog dispute. Many Scots have called out this over the top policing in comparison to similar events, with the family alleging they were subjected to racism by the police. And yet, apparently the hijab’s introduction is going to change things.

I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, but I’m a realist. I hope more people who wear hijabs will consider joining the force, but they’re not going to until the police get their house in order. On a brighter note, at least Britain’s police are allowing more clothing to be worn as opposed to the French.