M. O’Neill & S. Holdaway Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Examining ‘Window Dressing’: The Views of Black Police Associations on Recruitment and Training Megan O‘Neill and Simon Holdaway This is a post-print version of the article which appeared as: O‘Neill, M. and Holdaway, S. (2007) ‗Examining ―Window Dressing‖: The Views of Black Police Associations on Recruitment and Training‘ , Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33(3): 483-500. URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691830701234780 In a previous issue of this journal, Ellis Cashmore (2002) discussed two key issues currently confronting police constabularies in England and Wales: the recruitment of minority ethnic officers and civilian staff, and the impact of diversity training now in place for all police officers. Cashmore argued that not only are these policies ineffective in enhancing cultural diversity within constabularies, but that they are harmful, presenting a false outward image of effective action. This article examines Cashmore’s arguments and develops them in light of findings from recent research on Black Police Associations (BPA) in England and Wales. Our findings firstly suggest that, because of heavy involvement with these initiatives and the close relationship BPAs have developed with senior management (in comparison to non-BPA members), they must be considered in any discussion of minority ethnic recruitment and diversity training. In addition, the majority of the officers we interviewed were supportive of current recruitment and training programmes. Secondly, we argue that BPAs are helping to change the nature of the overall police culture to a certain extent. Many minority ethnic officers no longer feel they must downplay their ethnicity as members of constabularies. Keywords: Black Police Associations; Minority Ethnic Recruitment; Diversity Training; Minority Ethnic Police Officers; Police Culture In a previous paper in this journal, Ellis Cashmore (2002) discussed two key issues currently confronting police constabularies in England and Wales, namely the recruitment of minority ethnic officers and civilian staff, and the impact of diversity training 1 for all police officers. On the basis of data from interviews with officers of African-Caribbean and South Asian backgrounds from three English constabularies, Cashmore argued that not only are these policies ineffective in enhancing cultural diversity within constabularies (as a way of addressing police Megan O‘Neill is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Salford. Correspondence to: Dr M. O‘Neill, School of ESPaCH, University of Salford, Crescent House, Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, UK. E-mail: m.e.oneill@salford.ac.uk . Simon Holdaway is Professor of Sociology and Criminology and Director of the Centre for Criminological Research at the University of Sheffield. Correspondence to: Prof. S. Holdaway, …..??? E-mail: ????