SENIOR police chiefs have hit back at criticism of their record on race relations and the recruitment of ethnic minority officers.

North Yorkshire Police was branded 'the weakest link' on these issues by Government inspector Dan Crompton, of Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. His report showed that only one force in England and Wales received lower marks than North Yorkshire on ten issues, including dealing with racist and homophobic crime and recruiting, promoting and retaining ethnic minority officers.

Mr Crompton, who described North Yorkshire, Gwent and City of London Police as 'the weakest link,' said the forces needed to end 'complacency' over stop-and-search tactics on ethnic minorities. Responding to the report, North Yorkshire's Assistant Chief Constable Peter Bagshaw said the findings were disappointing.

He said: "The force is disappointed that the report does not fully reflect the positive nature of the initial feedback from the inspection team."

Mr Bagshaw added that a series of initiatives had been introduced and others were still being developed.

He said: "It is accepted that the approach we have developed differs significantly from that adopted by many other forces in that we deliberately chose to incorporate the needs of all members of our community.

"To that end, we are addressing looking at a much broader picture than the limited scope of this report.