Police forces should be made to recruit quotas of female officers, according to the British Association for Women in Policing (BAWP).

The trade body has written to police minister Hazel Blears asking her to introduce the quota system until women make up 35% of the police workforce.

Women make up a fifth of police officers, although they account for 35% of total police staff.

BAWP president Julie Spence also wants quotas applied at higher levels so women can progress through the ranks more easily.

She told Police Review magazine: “At an individual level it can seem unfair but at a strategic level we are re-balancing years of unbalanced recruitment.”