Women in Intelligence Leadership Roles 2020 to 2024
Publication Number: 1559
FOI Number: 20706
Information Request
1. Please provide the current number and percentage of women in intelligence leadership roles within your police service intelligence operation units. For example, analysts, intelligence managers, senior intelligence managers and other supervisory roles.
2. What efforts are being made to ensure gender diversity in these positions within the services intelligence unit?
3. What specific programs/initiatives or policies does your police service have in place to promote gender diversity and support women in advancing to leadership roles, specifically within the intelligence units?
4. Those in intelligence roles such as covert/overt surveillance operations, undercover operations officer, field intelligence officers etc- what is the current number and percentage of women in these roles?
5. Over the past 5 years how has the number and percentage of women in intelligence leadership roles within your police service changed?
FOI Duty
First Duty – Essex Police does hold some information relating to your request, in respect of Q1,2,3 & 5
Second Duty – See below
Fact – This disclosure is subject to the following exemptions:
Exemption – Partial NCND Section 24(2) National Security, (Qualified) and is subject to a public interest team Section 31(3) Law Enforcement, (Qualified) and is subject to a public interest test
Essex Police can report as follows:
Caveat: The data is correct as at 24 September 2024
The intelligence department is collaborative with Kent Police, the data given relates to Essex Officers and Staff only.
While there are female Officers and Staff within the Intelligence Department who are in Junior Management roles, the department is managed by a Chief Inspector who for the past five years, has been male.
Information:
1. Please provide the current number and percentage of women in intelligence leadership roles within your police service intelligence operation units. For example, analysts, intelligence managers, senior intelligence managers and other supervisory roles.
The below table shows the current number and percentage of women in leadership roles is as follows:
|
Gender |
Headcount |
Overall Percentage |
|
Female |
7 |
53.85% |
|
Male |
6 |
46.15% |
|
Grand Total |
13 |
100.00% |
2. What efforts are being made to ensure gender diversity in these positions within the services intelligence unit?
Improving the representation of females in the workforce and specifically specialist posts and leadership roles is one of the objectives of the Diversity Strategy (publicly available on our website). There is no specific plan around the Intelligence Unit specifically however the Diversity Strategy has been well embedded across the service since 2020 and the Serious Crime Command will monitor and track female progression within their command as part of their governance processes under the strategy. Female representation across the service, including leadership roles specifically and the details of the efforts being made to improve the representation of females in Essex Police, are publicly available via our Statutory Duty Report which we publish externally as part of our Public Sector Equality Duty.
3. What specific programs/initiatives or policies does your police service have in place to promote gender diversity and support women in advancing to leadership roles, specifically within the intelligence units?
Improving the representation of females in the workforce and specifically specialist posts and leadership roles is one of the objectives of the DEI Strategy (publicly available on our website). There is no specific plan around the Intelligence Unit specifically however the Diversity Strategy has been well embedded across the service since 2020 and the Serious Crime Command will monitor and track female progression within their command as part of their governance processes under the strategy. The service has a number of leadership and development programmes aimed at all officers and staff and these opportunities are proactively advertised to those from under-represented groups as part of our positive action commitment under the Diversity Strategy and People and Learning Strategy.
4. Those in intelligence roles such as covert/overt surveillance operations, undercover operations officer, field intelligence officers etc- what is the current number and percentage of women in these roles?
See below.
5. Over the past 5 years how has the number and percentage of women in intelligence leadership roles within your police service changed?
The below table shows the number and percentage of women in intelligence leadership roles over the past 5 years
|
Month/Year |
Female |
Male |
Percentage of Women |
|
Sep-20 |
8 |
7 |
53.33% |
|
Sep-21 |
9 |
9 |
50.00% |
|
Sep-22 |
7 |
7 |
50.00% |
|
Sep-23 |
6 |
9 |
40.00% |
|
Sep-24 |
7 |
6 |
53.85% |
You may be interested in reviewing the following links to all our published workforce statistics:
National statistics overview: Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Police workforce England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Every effort is made to ensure that the data provided by Essex Police is accurate and complete. However, Essex Police systems are designed primarily for the management of individual cases and not for the purposes of providing data to answer specific FOI enquiries. Please note although data can be extracted from a number of sources via database queries, the results may be subject to inaccuracies. Care should be taken to understand our return when considering the interpretation or further use of the data.
Essex Police neither confirm nor deny any other information is held.
Section 24 (2) National Security
Section 31 (3) Law Enforcement
Overall harm for sections 24, 31:
Undercover police tactics are, by their very nature, sensitive. They include techniques and controls that will be of great interest to criminals who are trying to develop measures to counter them. This includes identifying and mapping the deployment of undercover officers (UCOs) with the intention of establishing how and when UCOs have been deployed and/or may be deployed in future.
To confirm or deny whether Essex Police, or other police forces utilise UCOs and how many would undermine the purpose of undercover operations. By providing the information requested (if held), it would allow comparison between forces across the country and enable the criminal fraternity to build a picture of what resources are in place. Consequently, this would prejudice the effectiveness of the police service as it would allow inferences to be drawn about force level capability and would identify vulnerability around the country.
The Police Service is charged with enforcing the law, preventing and detecting crime and protecting the communities we serve. The confirmation or denial of the information sought would impact on the effectiveness of police procedures and investigations thereby hindering the prevention and detection of crime.
Public interest Tests Sections 24,31
S24 - Public Interest favouring Disclosure:
The information simply relates to women in covert roles and their percentage. To confirm whether information exists would enable the general public to understand more about equality and the balance on genders within policing.
S24 - Public Interest favouring Non-Disclosure:
No information which may aid criminals or those who present any other threats to national security, such as through terrorism, should be disclosed. To what extent confirmation or denial may aid such a fraternity is unknown, but it is clear that it will have an impact on a force’s ability to safeguard national security interests.
The public entrust the Police Service to make appropriate decisions with regard to their safety and protection. The only way of reducing risk is to be cautious with what is placed into the public domain and in some circumstances such as these, confirmation or denial that information is held.
The cumulative effect of criminals gathering information from various sources would build a picture of vulnerabilities within certain scenarios, such as whether or not UCOs are located within a specific policing areas. The more information disclosed over time will provide a more detailed account of the tactical infrastructure of not only a force area but also the country as a whole.
Any incident which results from such a disclosure would by default affect National Security.
S31 - Public Interest favouring Disclosure:
Confirming or denying whether Essex Police holds information relevant to this request the public would be able to see the proactive ways that the police are continually recruiting to equal opportunity roles within policing. Essex Police is committed to openness and transparency with the general public. When a request for information is made to them, it is correct that the police make appropriate information available to the general public.
S31 - Public Interest favouring Non-Disclosure:
Essex Police has a duty of care to the community at large and public safety is of paramount importance. If an FOI disclosure reveals information to the world, by not adopting an NCND position, it would not only compromise and undermine the security of the national infrastructure, but the effective delivery of operational law enforcement would also be undermined as offenders could use this knowledge to their advantage which would compromise public safety and more worryingly encourage offenders to carry our further crimes.
Essex Police has a statutory role in investigating criminal offences. Essex Police will not disclose, through the duty to confirm or deny whether information is held under the Act, whether or not UCOs are used, and by extension, have been deployed. This information would allow criminals to map forces that might be using UCOs and assist them to predict where current UCOs are deployed and/or where UCOs may be deployed in future. This information could also, in certain circumstances, compromise police investigations, tactics and/or sources of information. Where compromise occurs, this would adversely affect Essex Police ability to prevent and detect crime and apprehend and prosecute offenders. This would be contrary to the public interest.
Balancing Test:
After weighing up the competing interests I have determined that the disclosure of the above information would not be in the public interest. I consider that the benefit that would result from the information being disclosed does not outweigh the considerations favouring non-disclosure.
The security of the country is of paramount importance and Essex Police will not divulge whether information is or is not held if to do so could undermine National Security or compromise Law Enforcement. Whilst there is a public interest in the transparency of policing operations and in this case providing assurance that the police service is appropriately and effectively engaging with the threat posed by the criminal fraternity through the use of UCOs, there is a very strong public interest in safeguarding both National Security and the integrity of police investigations and operations in this area.