The study, which was conducted between January and May 2000, involved 32 focus groups that consisted of 290 people aged 18-30 from various minority ethnic communities. The researchers who facilitated the focus group discussion were also from minority ethnic groups. The research identified a set of core themes that were common to all the minority ethnic groups involved: Bangladeshi, black African, black Caribbean, Chinese, Greek/Greek Cypriot, Pakistani, Indian, and Turkish/Turkish Cypriot. The participants had a number of reservations about the police based on personal experiences, but also held images of police presented in the media. They were concerned about racism among police and a culture that seemed to exclude them, both from the job and in the community. Respondents perceived that police had neither the knowledge, sensitivity, or desire to understand minority cultures different from the majority culture. Police culture itself was believed to be at the root of many problems. Respondents, however, did not want to generalize their negative opinions of police to all police officers, and they reported many positive experiences with police. Lack of information was identified as a major problem in considering police careers. Recruitment strategies should provide face-to-face information on the following: support for recruits, how racism is addressed, length and content of police officer training, and dangers faced by officers and how they are equipped and trained to deal with these. 31 references