Just 57 out of 1,713 police officers recruited by the Met since last April are black, according to figures.
The number of black recruits is only 3.3 per cent, compared with London’s black population of 13.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, researchers found a further 107 new recruits were Asian — 6.2 per cent of the intake. People of Asian background make up 18.5 per cent of the capital’s population.
Scotland Yard said its 5,000 BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) police officers are half of those employed in England and Wales. Ten years ago, there were 3,100. It added that 16 per cent of recruits define themselves as black, Asian or minority ethnic.
In November, Mayor Sadiq Khan published a plan to improve trust and confidence in the Met and to address community concerns around officers’ disproportionate use of force.
Part of it was an ambition for BAME officers to make up 40 per cent of all Met officers recruited from next year.
But Lib Dem mayoral candidate Luisa Porritt, who carried out the research, said: “We’re getting all talk and no action from Mr Khan.
“It is not good enough to issue a press release about your intentions, you have to go and make it happen. These figures show no progress in increasing the number of black officers in the Met and a continued failure to recruit enough Asian officers too.”
A Met spokesman said: “We have worked hard to drive out disproportionate outcomes from our recruitment processes so everyone has the same chance of success and we are providing personal support throughout that process for our female and Bame candidates.”
A spokesman for Mr Khan said the Mayor “makes no apologies for setting an ambitious target”.
