BAPA history booklet

Tariq remembers when he was a serving officer the highest rank you could aspire
to would probably be a Sergeant. He thinks the future looks pretty good, the
more black and Asian Officers who have joined the service the better it will be for
the whole of the community that we serve. ‘There’s still a stigma which is
attached to the police service amongst the minority communities and that is an
historical thing it always has been and I think it’s the same all round
the world, but in this particular country there are people who are
who are forward thinking who have visions which people in the
past perhaps lacked. It is good that the organisation and BAPA can
do a lot of good with the police service and edge it further forward
as far as it can go’. 5
He became the first Asian officer in the country to reach 30 years’
service before retiring in 1999 after spending 8 years in the
recruitment department for West Midlands Police. At the time, the
force was credited with having the second highest number of
ethnic minority officers in the country .
In 2016, many years after his retirement, Tariq still plays cricket for
West Midlands Police.
Tariq Somra 2016
1973 – Ramesh Kumar QPM became the first Asian officer in the West
Midlands Constabulary after three years as a police cadet. His father
was a Senior Police Officer in the Punjab Police, India so he had a
positive perception of the police from a young age and always
wanted to be a police officer.
Ramesh Kumar
He remembers arriving from India in 1965 not being able to speak,
read or write English. However he pursued his ambition to join the
police and whilst it was very hard, he eventually joined the regular
officers. Ramesh was proud when both sons joined the police force.
Anil was a regular officer for 10 years and Sunil was a Special
Constable for 4 years.
From an early stage in his service he was engaged in supporting fair
play and equal opportunities for the few minority officers in the
police service. From an international perspective he has been involved in building
better links with overseas police in particular with India, hosting many Police
Chiefs and delegates.
5 Notes from a meeting of BAPA founders and current members 8th August 2016 at Tally Ho! Police Training Centre, Birmingham
10