Unacceptable

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced an assessment of how ethnic minority officers are treated in police forces throughout England and Wales. Police Minister Vernon Coaker will oversee a two-week review looking at recruitment and promotion prospects. London Mayor Boris Johnson earlier launched an inquiry into alleged racism within the Metropolitan Police.
The Metropolitan Black Police Association has pledged to discourage minorities from working in the Met. Ms Smith said she was "disappointed" by the boycott and said the group's subsequent advertising campaign to discourage ethnic minorities applicants for the Met was "unhelpful".

From the BBC News Website

Racism in any walk of life is, of course, unacceptable. When it is alleged in the corridors of those charged with maintaining law and order its tremors shake the very core of society. Now I may be missing something here but why does the Metropolitan Black Police Association exist?

Is that not itself, by its own definition, a racist group? I assume - perhaps wrongly - that membership of this Association is for black and ethnic minority police officers only. Why can't their concerns be addressed through the usual police association procedures? One can imagine the outrage if there were a Metropolitan White Police Association in existence.

Or perhaps the inference is that this already exists, just not in name. If so the problem is far more serious than first thought...