Thames Valley Police is to be held accountable for the way it deals with people from black and Asian backgrounds.

It must release annual figures showing it is meeting targets for recruiting black and Asian officers.

Figures showing how many people from ethnic backgrounds are stopped and searched must also be published every three years.

The figures must be published to meet requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, which came into force this month.

Thames Valley Police currently has 109 black and Asian officers out of a total of 3,971.

Over the next 10 years, the force aims to recruit a further 120.

In the last financial year, 16 officers from ethnic backgrounds were recruited. Twelve were recruited during 1999-2000.

The force has introduced a race equality scheme and senior officers said they were already working hard to meet the act's requirements. Chief Insp Geoff Smith, recruitment, retention and development officer, said: "For years, the police have been unrepresented among minority ethnic groups and that's changing.

"Young people of whatever background are steadily waking up to the fact there is an excellent career to be found in Thames Valley Police.

"We are striving to be a role model nationally. It's about supporting people and their career aspirations.

"It's not about quotas, tokenism or reducing standards."

The Home Office wants 6.1 per cent of officers in the Thames Valley force to come from ethnic backgrounds, to reflect the diversity of the area's communities. At the moment the figure is just 2.7 per cent.

Insp Simon Pont, the force's community and race relations officer, said: "We have come a long way as a service. "There's a perception to dispel that the police are all racists.

"There's still quite a lot of work to be done. Issues like stop-and-search still haven't gone away. The act requires us to monitor the use of that power."

Pc Rick Sagoo, general secretary and co-ordinator of the Thames Valley Black Police Association, said: "I feel Thames Valley is taking a very positive stance on this. I'm hoping that other forces will follow suit.

He added: "We encourage people from ethnic minorities to come to our awareness days, and those that do normally follow up with an application form."