The Police Federation has accused the Avon & Somerset force of breaking the law by rejecting white, male candidates in favour of ethnic minority and female applicants.

The West Country force has been accused of positive discrimination after allegedly rejecting 186 job applications from white men.

The recruitment team at Avon & Somerset initially received 242 applications from white, male candidates, the majority of which were rejected.

Despite this, the force claims that all the candidates had been judged by the same high standards.

The force currently employs 3,314 officers, of whom 51 are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Many police recruiters around the country are under pressure to meet diversity targets to ensure the overall service reflects the community at large, although many are thought to be some way off the government target of 7 per cent by 2009.

However, positive discrimination or making any recruitment decisions based on race is unlawful under the Race Relations Act. Earlier this year the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) made 125 recommendations to improve police diversity.