The number of ethnic minority recruits in the Metropolitan Police has topped 1,000 for the first time, Scotland Yard has revealed.

An extra 176 recruits were brought in over the last year bringing the total to 1,049.

But the officers still represent only 4% of the force total in a city where more than a quarter of the population are from ethnic minorities.

Commissioner Sir John Stevens welcomed the increase but said the total was not good enough.

"It's not a matter of crowing," he said.

The figures were released today as the London force detailed its advances since the publication one year ago of the Macpherson report on the Met's inquiry into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The report accused the force of institutional racism.

The figures show a huge rise in racist offences with arrests for such crimes up by more than 150%.

The number of racial incidents reported to police up was up by 175%.

The figures also show a tenfold increase in the number of intelligence reports by police of racist acts since December 1998.

The Met said on Tuesday it had adopted 25 of the 39 recommendations made in the Macpherson report with the other 14 in the pipeline.

"This is not the same Met as 12 months ago," Sir John said. "It has changed and developed across the board."

Determination to change

He said he believed the Met had responded to the report and its challenging conclusions "with honesty and a determination to change."

"It has not been easy and it has taken some longer than others to face up to their responsibilities," Sir John said.

But the Black Police Association said ethnic officers in the Met still faced institutional racism and called some of the force's initiatives "window dressing".

Met chairman David Michael said: "The number of black staff taking the Met to employment tribunal would appear to be increasing.

"Black staff are still complaining of discrimination and victimisation by line managers."

The increase in black and Asian officers follows Home Secretary Jack Straw's demands to chief police officers last spring that they recruit more ethnic officers in the next 10 years.

The ethnic recruiting target meant that the Met had to recruit more than 5,000 extra black and Asian officers.