Theresa May told the National Black Police Association the lack of black and minority ethnic officers and women in the police service was "simply not good enough".
In a speech she said "diversity profiles" covering England and Wales showed no force has a black and minority ethnic representation reflecting its local population.
She claimed that four police forces, Cheshire, Durham, North Yorkshire and Dyfed-Powys, have no black police officers at all.
But Don Axcell from the Christian Police Association said constant criticism of the police was pushing moral to "rock bottom".
He told the News Hour: "It really is bad at the moment.
"I think they [speeches from the government] can be inflammatory, although Theresa May was speaking at the National Black Police Association, she may well have been trying to pander to her audience, I don't know."
He said there was nothing sinister behind the low numbers of BME officers: "I think it is the fact that they just haven't had applications.
"You can put out recruiting literature, you can go to schools, to colleges, to try and recruit people but if they won't apply for the job you can't make them do that".