London: Scotland Yard's chief has acknowledged the police force's perception as institutionally racist and accepted that more black men were stopped and searched when compared with other groups.


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Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said the Metropolitan Police would take the allegations "on the chin".


"If other people think we are institutionally racist, then we are. It's no good me saying we're not," he said, adding that?he believed that society as a whole was "institutionally racist".


His comments came in reference to a new BBC documentary for which film crews followed the force between September 2013 and September 2014.


During a press screening, Sir Bernard said he also accepted that more black men were stopped and searched when compared with other groups.


He said: "You're very much more likely to be stopped and searched if you're a young black man...I can give you reasons, but I can't fully explain it."


He added: "I think society is institutionally racist. You see lack of representation in many fields of which the police are one, from judges, to doctors, to journalists, to editors, to governments."


The documentary, 'The Met: Policing London' is scheduled to be aired here on Monday.