Only one in 33 police officers in Yorkshire and the Humber is from an ethnic minority, new figures show.
Data released in July shows that forces across the region had a total of 383 non-white officers.
That means black and ethnic minority people (BME) make up 3.7% of 10,222 officers in Yorkshire and the Humber.
To put that in perspective, 13.2% of all people in Yorkshire and the Humber are BME.
Assistant Chief Constable Angela Williams, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “Earlier this year, we received 1,531 applications from aspiring police officers and out of those received, 25% were from diverse groups and backgrounds.
“The scale of our continuing recruitment shows our commitment to representing the communities we serve and offers a real opportunity to increase the diversity of our workforce.
“I urge anyone from an under-represented group who is interested in a career in policing to make use of all the information provided on our website and social media.”
West Yorkshire Police force performed even worse in proportional terms. Just over 5% of officers were non-white, while 18.2% of the local population are BME.
The lowest proportion in the region was in North Yorkshire where there were just 17 non-white police officers out of 1,378. That means fewer than 1% of police are BME, compared to 2% of the local population.
Humberside police had just 22 non-white police officers out of 1,641officers. Again, that means just over 1% of police are BME compared to 3.5% of the wider population.
In South Yorkshire there are 89 non-white cops - 3.5% of 2,483 officers. BME people make up 9.4% of the South Yorkshire population.
Police forces have been trying to become more representative since the Stephen Lawrence inquiry 24 years ago.
But they still seem to be struggling as the percentage of non-white police officers has increased by only 2.7 percentage points from 3,4% in 2013.
An Equality and Human Rights Commission spokesperson said: “It is essential the police service reflects the communities in which they serve.
“Diversity in the police service needs to be improved and while there has been some progress it has not been as much as we need, particularly at the most senior ranks.
“More must be done to recruit black and ethnic minority officers and support existing officers to reach the top.”
