A postal questionnaire was sent to all police forces in England and Wales to obtain information on the extent and content of specific initiatives and general policies to recruit from minority ethnic groups. Two police forces were selected for detailed research; they had undertaken ambitious but different programs to recruit police officers from black and Asian communities. Research findings showed that the recruitment of police officers from ethnic minorities cannot be separated from issues related to quality of race relations within constabularies. Further, the significance and relevance of race relations to police recruitment have been underestimated. Few police forces have published a race relations policy statement including ethnic minority recruitment provisions, and assistant chief constables with responsibility for recruitment have not fully appreciated how the persistence of racial language in the work force may have corrosive effects on police recruitment. In addition, few police forces have undertaken race relations training for staff involved in the various stages of selection interviewing. Finally, most police forces have not responded to substantive Home Office recommendations about the development of policies and practices for police recruitment from minority ethnic groups. 35 references (Author abstract modified)