Controversial changes to the law have been called for to allow positive discrimination in the recruitment of black and Asian police officers.

Less than 50 ethnic minority officers are walking the beat in Sussex with the force still falling short of targets to enlist black and Asian officers set for 2004.

Now the region's former police chief has claimed forces in desperate need of more minority personnel are being hampered by anti-discrimination laws.

Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said existing recruitment policies were failing and "managed, positive discrimination" was the only solution.

Out of 5,725 police officers and their support staff in Sussex, only 89 are black or Asian - about 1.5 per cent of the force compared to almost six per cent of the Brighton and Hove population.

With only 42 black or Asian officers in Sussex, the force is still short of its regional target for 2004, based on the 2001 census. That stipulated at least 49 officers of different races or faiths should be patrolling the region, rising to 70 by 2008.

New Chief Constable Joe Edwards will meet the Sussex Black Police Association to discuss the problem today.

A police spokesman said: "This is an issue and we are working to recruit and retain more black and ethnic minority officers, as well as accommodating more minority groups. But Joe Edwards hasn't called for positive discrimination. We are working within the law to boost these numbers."

Mr Jones, who stepped down as Sussex Police chief in February, called for ministers to consider his proposal at the end of his keynote speech at an Acpo conference in London.

Under racial equality laws it is illegal to discriminate positively in favour of a candidate on the grounds of race or sex, in the same way it is illegal to discriminate against them.

But Mr Jones denied his plan meant compromising standards or introducing rigid quotas.

He said there were "gaps" in the service and the current system of targets was "not delivering".

Positive discrimination, he argued, may be the best way of making the service more diverse and reflective of Britain's communities.

Mr Jones said: "We do need to do better. We need a debate with government on whether or not we need a change in the law, maybe only for a limited time. We need to reflect the social make-up of society."

Sussex Police said they were attending recruitment fairs for black and Asian job seekers to recruit staff as well as events such as Brighton's Pride to attract other minority groups.

But though a target of 42 backroom staff for 2008 had already been met, recruiting and retaining officers was proving difficult.

Mr Edwards will give a speech to the Sussex Black Police Association at its annual conference at the Thistle Hotel in Brighton today at 3pm.