Essex Police Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2020-2025

For the ‘Read Aloud’ function to work, this page must be viewed in Microsoft Edge.

My Vision

BJ Harrington, Chief Constable, Essex Police

Essex is not just one of the largest counties in the country, it is one of the most diverse too. We have the contrasts of affluent and deprived communities, international air and sea ports and quiet coastal villages and towns as well as the complexity of a county that is three quarters rural, but that also feeds London thousands of commuters every day from our own growing urban centres.

Our diversity is everything: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Our society is changing. I have a vision of a united Essex. We will celebrate our diversity and ensure established and newer communities interact and grow safely together with mutual understanding, respect and dignity for all.

The central tenet of policing in the UK is policing with consent. Our power to fulfil our functions and duties is built upon the trust and confidence of those whom we serve. We must police with the consent of all communities, and demonstrate this in our actions.

That’s why I believe it’s important we have a Diversity, Equality and Inclusion strategy.

Any form of inequality or disproportionality can harm community cohesion. We commit to resolving these inequalities. Sometimes our operations may involve stopping ten people to find one weapon and we sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this causes.

Our intention is to catch criminals, help people and keep people safe. Better intelligence and better cooperation will help us achieve this. Our commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion dates back many years but unfortunately some of the challenges our society faces are centuries old, and remain unresolved. As we saw in June 2020 following the death in the USA of George Floyd, while there may be no direct comparison between policing in the UK and policing in the USA, we are certainly seeing anger directed not just at the police but at a number of institutions. Whether it is the disparity in the number of young black men who enter the criminal justice system or recent reports on the impact of COVID-19 on different sections of society, there are clearly long running challenges which must be addressed. This kind of disparity appears in so many different places, and its effects are felt by many people on a daily basis.

I lead a team who need not only to understand our communities, but represent them too. For too long we have lagged behind in the recruitment and development of people from different backgrounds.

We will move faster to address this, and to seek out and set right injustice or prejudice in all its forms.

BJ Harrington, Chief Constable, Essex Police

Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex

Creating safe and secure communities are the bedrock on which we build success and well-being for all. Embedded in this vision is a need to work with, alongside and for local communities.

This vision is set out clearly in our Police and Crime Plan 2016-2020 (now extended to 2021).This clear strategic focus is helping Essex Police to attract a more diverse workforce and better reflect the people who live, work and travel in our county, improving policing and increasing the confidence those diverse communities have.

As this Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy demonstrates, Essex Police is already working hard to eliminate discrimination, achieve equality of opportunity and fostering good relations within our communities.

In this country we police by consent and our communities and our police force work together for the good of all. I welcome and support this strategy from Essex Police and hope our communities will help embrace its implementation.

Roger Hirst
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for Essex

Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Essex Police

We Are Family

This strategy recognises that there is a unique life enhancing power in genuine equality, greater diversity and dignity for all. As a living document, its purpose is to enable the release of that special inclusive energy amongst police officers, police staff, our volunteers, and the wonderfully diverse people who live, work and socialise in the glorious county of Essex.

Everyone should consider themselves included; younger and older, people with visible or hidden disabilities, people who are Black, Asian, White or mixed, heterosexual women and men, LGB+ people, trans people, travellers, people of different faiths and none, people of different health or socio-economic status, and people who think differently.

We will challenge inequalities, start new conversations, build productive relationships and help people feel proud to be themselves.

Our strategy will help us become more diverse at all ranks and staff grades. Our consensual operations will promote the dignity of everyone we are here to protect and serve. We will strive to eliminate harmful disproportionality and over time improved community confidence will make Essex Police an employer of choice for people of all backgrounds.

The Diversity and Inclusion Team are responsible for steering this work and we are keen to welcome anyone who shares our ambition on board. Our destiny of life enhancing outcomes for everybody will be well worth the inevitable occasional bump in the road, so let’s make the journey together.

Vernal Scott
Diversity and Inclusion manager
Essex Police

What is Our Strategic Ambition?

Our ambitions for diversity, equality and inclusion are embedded within and directly support our Force Plan. They are a plan for action, to ensure that in Essex Police we:

• Continually build trust and confidence, to protect and serve with the consent of all communities.
• Actively promote diversity, equality and inclusion so that all people are valued.
• Listen to and better understand the needs of our communities, our partners and our people.
• Value difference in everyone, acting fairly and respectfully in everything we do.
• Ensure we support each other to be the best we can be in our personal and professional aspirations.
• Reflect and represent the widest diversity within our county and country in every rank, role and grade, to demonstrate that the public are the police and the police are the public.
• Tackle discrimination, disparity and prejudice.
• Are impartial in how we use our powers, deliver services and engage with the public and each other.
• Are open and transparent and willing to continually develop, learn and improve, acknowledging mistakes and making our services accessible to all.
• Use data, intelligence and evidence as well as information from all communities and our people to inform our decisions.
• Discharge our duties under the Equality Act 2010.

Diversity, equality and inclusion will be an integral and explicit part of how we deliver the Force Plan and achieve the Police and Crime Plan priorities, underpinned by the College of Policing Code of Ethics.

You can view the Essex Police Force Plan 2020/2021 here.

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion – Making the Policing Case

The Moral Case

Providing inclusive policing services to the highest standard is simply the right thing to do.

The Ethical Case

The Policing Code of Ethics guides our principles and values. We will act in accordance with the Code to respect everyone’s right to be treated with dignity, fairness and respect.

The Life Chances Case

Enabling equal life opportunities and outcomes by reducing inequalities or disparities between different groups; including the characteristics outlined on the following chart.

The Business Case

Delivering the best possible service to the public, by attracting and retaining the best possible diverse talent.

The Legal Case

The Public Sector Equality Duty

The Equality Act 2010 provides a power to make regulations imposing specific duties on public bodies such as the police, where improvements may be required.

There are three aims in respect of the Public Sector Equality Duty:

• Eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
• Advancing equality of opportunity.
• Fostering good relations between different people when carrying out our duties.

Characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010

• Age
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Disability
• Race
• Gender reassignment
• Religion
• Marriage and Civil Partnership
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

What informs our strategy and ambition?

• The Essex Police Force Plan
• The Police and Crime Plan
• The NPCC Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2018 – 2025
• College of Policing Code of Ethics
• The ongoing public discussion and debate
• The data, information and insight from staff surveys and national and local sentiment
• National reports and findings on the subject of diversity, equality and inclusion
• The Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty
• Our advisory groups and public forums
• Our staff support associations
• Our policing history

The NPCC Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2018 – 2025

The strategy has three key elements that enable success centred on the personal leadership of all Chief Constables and their chief officer teams.  These elements are;

• Our Organisation
• Our Communities
• Our Partners

They provide a framework to accelerate progress on diversity, equality and inclusion, the delivery of positive equality outcomes and to ensure legal compliance. In so doing, we will deliver a fair and responsive service that engages effectively with our staff, our partners and our communities and builds on our organisational values and culture.

Leadership

Chief officers will provide visible leadership to ensure our staff, our partners and our communities witness our personal commitment to diversity, equality and inclusion.

See the full National Police Chief's Council Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2018 to 2015 on the NPCC website.

Priority areas of work and Equality Objectives

This will be an ongoing and complex piece of work with many strands and activities. The Delivery Plan will set out in detail what we will do, our approach and the timetable. It will make reference to the NPCC toolkit; our leadership and culture, attraction and recruitment, as well as retention, progression, wellbeing and job satisfaction so that everyone can serve with dignity from the day they join the force to the day they leave.

In addition, there will be areas of work which are devised locally through existing force boards and structures.

This strategy will be delivered across Essex Police within existing leadership structures and also through the Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Cohesion (EDIC) task and finish process overseen by our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategic Board which is chaired by the Chief Constable.

Our Objectives (Public Sector Equality Objectives)

Increase satisfaction and confidence

Increase satisfaction and confidence amongst protected groups, wider communities and victims of crime. Tackle hate crime and address any complaints and concerns raised.

More diverse workforce

Attract, recruit, progress and retain a more diverse workforce that better reflects our communities to improve confidence in Essex Police.

Narrow the disparity

Narrow the disparity between protected groups and non-protected groups in respect of the use police powers such as stops, searches and the use of force. Improve the experience of policing services without reducing the legitimate use of police powers to protect communities.

Adopt and advance

Adopt and advance the NPCC Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2018-2025 and accompanying toolkits.

Improve inclusive culture

Improve inclusive culture and increase awareness and understanding of diversity and equality through delivery of mandatory training, equality data analysis, equality and health impact assessment, and effective community engagement.

Outcome: Policing with the consent of all communities

Strategic Aims and Objectives

Attract, recruit, progress and retain a more diverse workforce that better reflects our communities to improve confidence in Essex Police.

• Increase the number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic officers and staff to be more reflective of the economically active population in Essex.
• Increase the proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and female colleagues in specialist roles and leadership positions.
• Improve the confidence of officers and staff to self-declare sexual orientation, disability and religion to better understand and reflect the diversity of the force.
• Increase the proportion of people who choose to declare their ethnicity or other data relevant to diversity and inclusion in force records, use of powers records, or suspect, victim and complainant records.

Narrow the disparity between protected groups and non-protected groups in respect of the use of police powers such as stops, searches and the use of force. Improve the experience of policing services without reducing the legitimate use of police powers to protect communities.

• Understand, explain and reduce the disparity in use of force, stop/search and Conducted Energy Devices between white and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people.

Increase satisfaction & confidence amongst protected groups, wider communities and victims of crime. Tackle hate crime and address any complaints and concerns raised.

• Increase the confidence of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people in the service they will receive from Essex Police as measured by the independent force survey.
• Increase the confidence of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people, working to increase the number of those who feel they would be treated fairly if they made a complaint, as measured by the independent force survey.

Adopt and advance the NPCC Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy2018-2025 and accompanying toolkits

• Implement and conduct a quarterly review of ongoing action aligned with the NPCC toolkit
• Prioritise our work to reflect Our Objectives (the Public Sector Equality Duty Objectives) within this document and set out our work in the Delivery Plan.

Improve inclusive culture through delivery of mandatory training, equality data analysis, equality and health impact assessment, and effective community engagement.

• Diversity, equality and inclusion training to be delivered to every officer, staff member and volunteer over the first two years of this strategy with an annual refresher thereafter.
• Every leader will undertake diversity, equality and inclusion training over the first 12 months of this strategy with annual refreshers.
• Develop effective and representative Independent Advisory Groups (IAG) at strategic and geographic levels and create Essex-wide Youth Independent Advisory Group representation.
• Develop a diversity dashboard in order to monitor our progress against our objectives.
• Institute an annual Essex Police Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Conference.

 

Delivering On Our Strategic Aims: The Diversity, Equality And Inclusion Board Structure

The Essex Police Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Board is supported by Strategic Independent Advisory Groups (IAGs) and Young People Independent Advisory Groups.  The Board is responsible for the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy delivery plan which is drawn from the IAGs, Command Diversity, Equality and Inclusion structure, Staff support networks, the Chief Police Officers' Staff Association (CPOSA), the Police Superintendents' Association of England and Wales (PSAEW), the Police Federation and Unison. Work is allocated through these groups to the Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Cohesion (EDIC) task and finish groups.

Leadership and Governance

The Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy is of vital importance to Essex Police and as such responsibility for delivering our Strategic Aims will rest with colleagues at every level and in every department. There will be a governance and leadership system which will be overseen by the Chief Constable. This reflects the importance of this work in maintaining public confidence and our ethos of policing with consent.

There will be representation at Chief Officer and Head of Command / Department level at the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Board as well as three independent members from the Strategic and Youth IAGs. In addition the force will welcome additional representation from individuals or organisations who are not part of either group.

The Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy Delivery Plan will be owned by the Board and delivered by the force, supported by the Diversity & Inclusion team and the support networks and staff associations.

To make this happen, the force will establish Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Cohesion (EDIC) groups (task and finish groups) to support the delivery of the plan.

Together, we will protect and serve everyone in Essex, and we will police with the consent of all communities.

Support Networks

• LGBT Network
• Christian Police Association (CPA)
• Menopause Support Group
• Help Forum
• Minority and Ethnic Support Association (MESA)
• Disability Network
• Women’s Leadership and Development Forum (WLDF)
• Catholic Police Guild
• Police Federation (Essex)
• Unison
• Police Superintendent’s Association
• Chief Police Officers’ Staff Association

PDF version of this strategy

Essex Police Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2020 to 2025 (PDF 2.7Kb)