Making policing more representative of its communities is a top priority for Wiltshire Police, as the Force responded to a report from the UK's top police chiefs.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has today issued a number of recommendations today for all police forces, including all senior police leaders to be formally assessed on their efforts to improve diversity within their operational command. In Wiltshire, this is already in place with the Deputy Chief Constable leading diversity across the Force and good progress made in recent years, including setting up a dedicated Diversity & Inclusion Team to improve workforce diversity.
In line with the national NPCC strategy, Wiltshire Police released its own diversity strategy for public consultation this week and has launched an online survey to seek views from the public on how it can encourage more underrepresented groups to seek a career in policing and be more inclusive in working with communities and partner agencies.
“We really welcome the direction set nationally. I’m pleased to say diversity is already a key focus for us here in Wiltshire and the approach we are taking mirrors the national guidance,” said Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills.
“We want to reach out to communities and give them a voice to feedback what matters most to them in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion in local policing.”
The Force uses positive action to support applicants from under-represented groups. It provides a mentoring coaching and buddying scheme for staff and officers in the ‘protected characteristics’ * groups, including 1 to 1 coaching. Earlier this year, Wiltshire became the first police force in the country to be awarded Disability Confident Leader status by the Department of Work and Pensions. A new external network of Diversity Ambassadors is being introduced to help the Force extend its reach into diverse communities.
Wiltshire Police employs just over 2,000 officers and staff, with a ratio of almost 50:50 men to women. In Police Staff roles, women outweigh males by a ratio of 60:40. In the last 10 years, the proportion of female Police Officers rose from 28 per cent in 2008 to 37 per cent in 2018.
The number of black and minority ethnic (BAME) police officers has grown at a slower rate, with currently 19 police officers (1.8%) from ethnic minorities, albeit a 20 per cent increase in the last 12 months. The Special Constabulary is more representative, with nine per cent of the 230 Special Constables declaring themselves black, minority or ethnic.
‘I am encouraged to see we are now starting to see increased numbers of applications from under-represented groups,” said DCC Mills.
“Our latest Police Officer recruitment campaign has resulted in 131 successful applicants, including seven BAME, which is more reflective of Wiltshire’s 5.5 per cent BAME population as a whole. However we know we have more to do to attract, support and retain officers and staff from diverse backgrounds to truly reflect our communities,” DCC Mills added.
On Monday (15 October) Wiltshire opens recruitment for PCSOs and will be advertising for Local Crime Investigators in November. Applications for both roles from under-represented groups are encouraged.
Police and Crime Commissioner for Wiltshire and Swindon, Angus Macpherson said: "My role is to be the voice of the people when it comes to policing and we have some way to go before Wiltshire Police can claim truly to be representative of the communities they are here to serve.
“But there are signs of progress. Our Diversity and Inclusion team is doing good work and I will ensure the new diversity strategy forms the cornerstone of how our officers and staff interact with the public and with each other and that it takes full account of comments we receive from the public”.
The online public consultation on the Force’s new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy runs for six weeks at www.wiltshire.police.uk/
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