Statutory Duty Information Quarterly Report October to December 2022

Essex Police is committed to diversity, inclusion, and dignity for everyone we serve and employ, treating everyone with fairness, equality, and respect. The communities of Essex are evolving and changing, and we want to grow and evolve with them by listening and responding to actual, rather than assumed, needs. Understanding the needs of the people that live or work in Essex, and the needs of those that visit Essex helps us prevent crime, keep people safe and catch criminals.

This report is part of Essex Police’s response to the Equality Act 2010. It is intended to offer data on the equality impact of Essex Police’s employment practices and activities.

The Equality Act creates a public sector Equality Duty to have due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act. In other words, to consider how different people will be affected by our activities.
• Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. We want to deliver services which, while efficient and effective, are accessible to all and meet everyone’s needs.
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Fulfil our requirements to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people (both employees, volunteers and others) who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.

The data presented here covers October to December 2022, and in compliance to the specific duty regulations, Essex Police:

• Publish equality objectives every four years.
• Publish information annually to demonstrate compliance with the general Equality Duty.
• Publish information relating to our employees and others affected by our policies and practices (such as provide services to communities).

Essex Police Equality Objectives

The specific duties require public bodies to prepare and publish one or more specific and measurable equality objective which will help to further the three aims of the Equality Duty.

We incorporate equality into our core business, create equal opportunities and develop good working relationships between different people. We are transparent about how we respond to the Equality Duty, as required by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011.

This report looks at how well our organisation reflects our communities, how we are perceived by the public, and how we respond and deal with crime. The report reflects the five areas within the Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy.

• Attract, recruit, progress and retain a more diverse workforce that better reflects our communities to improve confidence in Essex Police.
• Narrow the disparity between protected 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.
• Increase satisfaction and confidence amongst protected groups, wider communities, and victims of crime. Tackle hate crime and address any complaints and concerns raised.
• Adopt and advance the NPCC Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2018-2025 and accompanying toolkits.
• 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.

The below tables detail the performance metrics identified in relation to each of the objectives, along with the direction of travel, i.e., the trend.  Please note that some metrics – such as those in relation to officer numbers (rather than proportions) – are still in the process of being built.

Objective: Attract, recruit, progress and retain a more diverse workforce

Indicators		% Dec 2021	% Dec 2022	% pt. Difference	Direction of Travel
Increase the number of Ethnic Minority officers and staff to be more reflective of the economically active population in Essex
% of Total Work Force	Ethnic Minority	4.3	4.2	-0.1	Deteriorating
	White	93.8	93.8	0.1
	Declined to state	1.9	2.0	0.1
% of Police	Ethnic Minority	4.1	4.1	0.0	Stable
	White	93.6	93.6	-0.1
	Declined to state	2.2	2.3	0.1
% of Staff (exc PCSO)	Ethnic Minority	4.4	4.3	-0.1	Deteriorating
	White	93.8	94.0	0.1
	Declined to state	1.8	1.8	0.0
% of PCSO	Ethnic Minority	0.9	0.0	-0.9	Deteriorating
	White	96.4	97.2	0.8
	Declined to state	2.7	2.8	0.1
% of Specials	Ethnic Minority	5.9	5.2	-0.7	Deteriorating
	White	94.1	94.8	0.7
	Declined to state	0.0	0.0	0.0
Increase the proportion colleagues in specialist roles and leadership positions
% of Chief Officers	Ethnic Minority	0.0	0.0	0.0	Stable
% of Chief Superintendents	Ethnic Minority	10.0	16.7	6.7	Improving
% of Superintendents	Ethnic Minority	3.7	7.7	4.0	Improving
%of Chief Inspectors	Ethnic Minority	4.3	6.1	1.9	Improving
% of Inspectors	Ethnic Minority	2.0	2.0	0.0	Stable
% of Sergeants	Ethnic Minority	2.4	2.1	-0.4	Deteriorating
% of Constables	Ethnic Minority	4.2	4.4	0.1	Improving
% of Student Constables	Ethnic Minority	7.1	4.9	-2.2	Deteriorating
% of Chief Officers	Female	33.3	20.0	-13.3	Deteriorating
% of Chief Superintendents	Female	30.0	25.0	-5.0	Deteriorating
% of Superintendents	Female	29.6	23.1	-6.6	Deteriorating
%of Chief Inspectors	Female	21.3	28.6	7.3	Improving
% of Inspectors	Female	26.8	32.0	5.2	Improving
% of Sergeants	Female	28.0	28.2	0.2	Improving
% of Constables	Female	36.4	37.6	1.2	Improving
% of Student Constables	Female	46.1	45.8	-0.3	Deteriorating

Objective: Narrow the disparity

Indicators - per 1,000 population (where ethnicity recorded)		Q3 2021/22	Q3 2022/23	Difference	Direction of Travel
Understand, explain and reduce the disparity in use of force and stop and search between White and Ethnic Minority people
Use of Force incidents	Ethnic Minority	5.8	4.0	-1.8	Improving
	White	2.9	2.6
Stop and Searches	Ethnic Minority	3.5	2.1	-1.4	Improving
	White	1.6	1.5

Objective: Increase satisfaction and confidence

Indicators			% 12 months to Dec 2021	% 12 months to Dec 2022	% pt. Difference	Direction of Travel
Increase the confidence of Ethnic Minority people in the service they will receive from Essex Police as measured by the independent force survey
• Taking everything into account, how good a job do you think the police in this area are doing?
% Good/Excellent		Ethnic Minority	76.3	78.6	2.3	Stable
		White	80.4	74.7	-5.7	Deteriorating
• How much would you agree or disagree that Essex Police understand the issues that affect your community?
% Strongly/Tend to Agree		Ethnic Minority	56.8	62.0	5.2	Stable
		White	60.5	52.2	-8.3	Deteriorating
• If you were to report a crime or incident in the future, how confident are you that you would receive a good service?
% Very/Fairly Confident		Ethnic Minority	73.3	74.1	0.8	Stable
		White	76.3	68.9	-7.4	Deteriorating
Increase the confidence of Ethnic Minority 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
• If you were to make a complaint to Essex Police about an officer or staff member, do you think you would be treated fairly?
% Strongly/Tend to Agree		Ethnic Minority	58.7	63.9	5.2	Stable
		White	77.2	67.6	-9.6	Deteriorating
• Please say how much you agree or disagree with the following statement: I am confident that the police use their stop and search power fairly and respectfully?
% Strongly/Tend to Agree		Ethnic Minority	57.7	59.7	2.0	Stable
		White	76.3	60.8	-15.5	Deteriorating

Activity:

‘We Value Difference’ is a continuous recruitment narrative which runs throughout the course of the year. It has been active in some form since the launch of the first official campaign in September 2020. Since the second phase of the campaign was launched in January 2022, we have continued to align the narrative to our different recruitment strands.

Police Officers

We continued with our approved recruitment marketing channel plan to reach and encourage people from all backgrounds to join as officers. During the three months October 22 to December 22 Essex Police received 501 applications to be a Police Constable. Of the 501 applications received 189 were from females (37.72%) and 89 (17.76%) from Ethnic Minority applicants.

Main advertising tactics were as follows:

• Google ads
• Facebook sponsored ads for IPLDP (Initial Police Learning and Development Programme), Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram
• Bus side campaign. Mega Rears – 6 in total running for 12 months. Depots – Clacton, Harlow, Grays, Chelmsford, Basildon, and Southend
• Continuous promotion of our Pass Out Parades, highlighting individual stories of our officers who come from a variety of diverse backgrounds. This continues to be our most successful route to attract new officer to join us.

The Positive Action Team (PAT) held a series of events to attract people from diverse and underrepresented groups into policing, and to support the retention and progression of those already within the Force. The principal focus was on the police officer uplift programme and targeted activities to recruit females and those from Ethnic Minority backgrounds.

The Positive Action Team have continued to build on the internal partnership workstreams through the Community Safety Engagement Officers network, creating further recruitment opportunities within community groups, schools, sixth form colleges and universities. It is also believed that engagement events in these locations and within these audiences, help to improve relationships with this area of our communities, as well as what might be generated around future recruitment opportunities. Recent engagement events have also occurred at the Chelmsford Mosque and the Chelmsford Islamic Society. 

Together with HR Recruitment, the Positive Action Team have now taken on management of the Buddy Scheme. Updates to training material as well as recruiting new Buddies, has recently taken place. There are currently 118 buddies assisting 88 applicants at time of writing. 

The Positive Action Team have been involved with several engagement and information events. These include Black History Month, Networking Essex and Multi Agency recruitment events. Some of the venues/locations attended in the September to December 2022 period include:  Wembley Stadium Careers Fair, Haringey Careers Fair, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Careers Fair and 4 visits to the Stansted Airport Careers offering.

A full review of the Essex Police website recruitment pages has been conducted by CI Norris and liaison had with the Media and Communications team to ensure the journey for the potential applicant is as efficient as possible. Reference to the various Staff Networks is now also visible on the external recruitment pages to ensure awareness around the support that could be obtained once recruitment has occurred.  

Increase the number of Ethnic Minority officers and staff to be more reflective of the economically active population in Essex.

The below table illustrates the percentage of ethnic minority personnel within the workforce compared to the same period the previous year. The current economically active population who identify as ethnic minority is 6.56%.

Ethnic Minority employees				Black or Black British
	31/12/2021	31/12/2022	% change	31/12/2022
% of Total Work Force	4.31	4.16	-0.15	0.50
% of Police	4.13	4.10	-0.03	0.35
% of Staff (exc PCSO)	4.41	4.30	-0.11	0.75
% of PCSO	0.91	0.00	-0.91	0.00
% of Specials	5.88	5.22	-0.66	0.55

• There has been a slight decrease (0.15% points) in the proportion of our Ethnic Minority workforce in December 2022 (269) compared to December 2021 (281); this equates to a reduction in the workforce of 12.

• Additionally, 384 police officer applications are currently in the recruitment pipeline with 33 Ethnic Minority applicants (8.6%) and 164 female applicants (42.7%).

• The proportion of Ethnic Minority Police Officers (as a percentage of all officers) decreased slightly by 0.3% in December 2022 (4.10%) compared to December 2021 (4.13%).

• Black or Black British employees represent 0.50% of the total work force. PCSO’s are the least represented type of employee (0.0%). There is no clear explanation for why this is the case however through the ‘We Value Difference’ campaign and Positive Action recruitment efforts we are striving to achieve a sustained increase of under-represented groups over time, which will lead to proportionate work force representation in the future.

Increase the proportion of Ethnic Minorities and female colleagues in specialist roles and leadership positions.

Ethnic Minority employees							Black or Black British
	31/12/2021		31/12/2022		Difference		31/12/2022
Rank	Headcount	%	Headcount	%	Headcount	%	Headcount	%
% of Chief Officers	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
% of Chief Superintendents	1	10.00%	2	16.67%	1	6.67%	0	0.00%
% of Superintendents	1	3.70%	2	7.69%	1	3.99%	1	0.03%
% of Chief Inspectors	2	4.26%	3	6.12%	1	1.87%	1	0.03%
% of Inspectors	3	2.01%	3	2.00%	0	-0.01%	0	0.00%
% of Sergeants	11	2.44%	10	2.09%	-1	-0.36%	1	0.03%
% of Constables	111	4.23%	117	4.37%	6	0.14%	9	0.24%
% of Student Constables	19	7.12%	15	4.87%	-4	-2.25%	2	0.05%
Force	148	4.13%	152	4.10%	4	-0.03%	14	0.38%

• There is now at least one officer from an Ethnic Minority in every rank in Essex Police other than within the Chief Officer team. 
• The percentage of Ethnic Minority Student Constables decreased to 4.9% in December 2022, however, when compared to 7.1% in December 2021. This is often due to the Student Constables completing their probationary period and moving into the ‘Constable’ category.

Female employees							Black or Black British
	31/12/2021		31/12/2022		Difference		31/12/2022
Rank	Headcount	%	Headcount	%	Headcount	%	Headcount	%
% of Chief Officers	2	33.33%	1	20.00%	-1	-13.33%	0	0.00%
% of Chief Superintendents	3	30.00%	3	25.00%	0	-5.00%	0	0.00%
% of Superintendents	8	29.63%	6	23.08%	-2	-6.55%	1	0.07%
% of Chief Inspectors	10	21.28%	14	28.57%	4	7.29%	0	0.00%
% of Inspectors	40	26.85%	48	32.00%	8	5.15%	0	0.00%
% of Sergeants	126	28.00%	135	28.18%	9	0.18%	1	0.07%
% of Constables	956	36.39%	1007	37.60%	51	1.21%	0	0.00%
% of Student Constables	123	46.07%	141	45.78%	18	-0.29%	0	0.00%
Force	1,268	35.39%	1,355	36.55%	87	1.16%	2	0.15%

• The number of female employees has risen by 87 in December 2022 compared to December 2021.
• The number of females remained the same in the Chief Superintendent rank but has decreased by one in the Chief Officer rank and by two in the Superintendent rank in December 2022 compared to December 2021. The ranks of Chief Inspector, Inspector and Sergeant increased by four, eight and nine female officers respectively.
• There are 87 more female Constables in December 2022 compared to December 2021.
• The percentage of Female Student Constables decreased by 0.3% in December 2022   compared to December 2021.

This is the highest percentage of female employees recorded and continues to be an upward trend since data recording started, ensuring Essex Police is more representative of the community we serve. This has been achieved through the collaborative work of the ‘We Value Difference’ recruitment campaign between Communications and HR departments, along with the external work of the Positive Action and Innovation Teams.

To support the aim of increasing the number of ethnic minority officers and females in leadership roles, Essex Police have in this reporting period, held four promotion processes. During all promotion processes, the PAT completed extensive outreach through national support networks, to attract external candidates from diverse backgrounds.

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.

On 17th November 2022, in acknowledgement of Inter Faith Week, Essex Police proudly hosted its first Multi Faith event. Attracting more than 50 participants via MS Teams, six external leaders shared the principles and importance of their respective faiths and were well received. The feedback was very positive.

The Safe to Say Campaign remains active within Essex Police. The willingness of staff to voluntarily self-declare their visible or non-visible protected characteristics is an important measure of an inclusive healthy organisation. Raising awareness of the support networks and promoting inclusivity generally has resulted in an improved declaration rate. The following table details this across the workforce. It is important for the force to understand the diverse make-up of the organisation and ensure that we better reflect the communities we serve.

International Day of Disabled Person 30th November event at Essex HQ Sports Pavilion.  Around 50 colleagues joined together at Essex HQ Sports Pavilion in acknowledgement of the theme: ‘Not All Disabilities are Visible’.  Some disabilities, like mental health, chronic pain, and fatigue, are invisible however that does not make them any less devastating to someone’s quality of life. The event had inputs, such as Euan’s Guide, which is run and used by disabled people for accessibility reviews. Hidden disabilities such as Arthritis and Dyslexia were discussed.

The four pictures below were taken at the event:

Diversity Category - Gender: Female

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	1355	36.55% ↑	35.83%	34.53%	31.95%	31.69%
Staff	1526	66.90% ↑	65.63%	65.20%	64.35%	63.48%
PCSOs	70	65.42% ↑	63.11%	58.18%	54.46%	60.17%
Specials	122	33.52% ↓	34.19%	32.45%	30.21%	28.49%

Diversity Category - Self Declared Gender: Prefer to Self Describe

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	5	0.13% ↑	0.05%	0.09%	-	-
Staff	5	0.22% ↑	0.17%	0.09%	-	-
PCSOs	0	0.00% →	0.00%	0.00%	-	-
Specials	0	0.00% →	0.00%	0.00%	-	-

Diversity Category - Religion: Declared a Religion

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	844	22.77% ↑	22.36%	21.52%	15.98%	13.55%
Staff	663	29.07% ↑	28.86%	27.70%	20.82%	18.56%
PCSOs	28	26.17% ↑	22.33%	24.55%	21.78%	15.68%
Specials	120	32.97% ↑	30.97%	28.65%	23.89%	12.63%

Diversity Category - Ethnicity: Ethnic Minorities

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	152	4.10% ↓	4.17%	3.72%	2.17%	2.07%
Staff	98	4.30% ↓	4.48%	4.45%	3.50%	2.97%
PCSOs	0	0.00% ↓	0.97%	0.91%	0.99%	2.12%
Specials	19	5.22% ↓	6.02%	6.64%	4.92%	3.49%

Diversity Category - Sexuality: Bisexual/Gay/Lesbian

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	188	5.07% ↑	4.75%	3.98%	2.14%	1.54%
Staff	86	3.77% ↑	3.42%	2.91%	1.52%	1.19%
PCSOs	3	2.80% ↓	2.91%	3.64%	2.97%	2.97%
Specials	13	3.57% ↓	4.52%	3.98%	4.45%	2.42%

Diversity Category - Disability: Yes

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	236	6.37% ↑	5.49%	4.90%	4.08%	3.92%
Staff	212	9.29% ↑	8.97%	7.95%	6.77%	6.73%
PCSOs	14	13.08% ↑	8.74%	8.18%	4.95%	5.08%
Specials	4	1.10% ↑	0.86%	0.19%	0.94%	0.00%

Diversity Category - Nationality: Declared Nationalities Excluding British

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	55	1.48% ↑	1.18%	1.03%	0.53%	0.44%
Staff	39	1.71% →	1.71%	1.71%	1.29%	1.14%
PCSOs	0	0.00% →	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%	0.00%
Specials	9	2.47% ↓	3.01%	3.98%	2.81%	1.88%

Diversity Category - Marital Status: Married or Civil Partnership

Employee Group	Headcount as at 31/12/2022	% as at 31/12/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2022	Position as at 31/03/2021	Position as at 31/03/2018	Position as at 31/03/2016
Officers	1215	32.78% ↓	34.02%	36.59%	47.47%	55.52%
Staff	903	39.59% ↓	39.62%	40.44%	44.86%	51.66%
PCSOs	53	49.53% ↓	51.46%	53.64%	60.40%	54.66%
Specials	36	9.89% ↑	8.60%	7.97%	13.35%	22.85%

• There was a slight increase in the percentages of officers who stated their sexual orientation – now sitting at 5.07% %, staff has increased to 3.77%.

• There was a slight increase in the percentage of officers who declared a religion – officers 22.77%, staff increased to 29.07%.

• There was an increase in the percentages of employees who declared a disability – officers 6.37%, staff increased to 9.29%, and PCSOs increased to 13.08% and Specials increased to 1.10%

Understand, explain, and reduce the disparity in use of force and stop and search between White and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people.

Essex Police introduced an Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Cohesion (EDIC) task and finish group to address a range of areas relating to disproportionality, chaired by a Chief Officer. The purpose of the EDIC is to understand, address and where necessary set actions with reducing disproportionality in Essex with a focus on stop and search and use of force. The group is made up of senior leaders, operational police colleagues and key representatives from members of the public, local IAGs and young people. The group use data and activity produced for the forces ‘Use of Force Board’.

To ensure legitimacy and transparency around the use of police powers, a Body Worn Video (BWV) Review Panel has convened to review clips of officers using stop and search powers in Essex. The panel consists of a diverse membership with representation from the Black, Jewish, and Transgender communities. Attendance is monitored to ensure the membership is fully representative of the community. The panel operates a feedback process to individual officers, not only to ensure officers are learning from each search conducted but also to highlight best practise and recognising officers who use their powers fairly, effectively, and respectfully to leave a positive impression on those subject to the search.

The panel have adopted a Procedural Justice Framework survey to provide feedback for the BWV clips viewed. The outcomes of each panel are reported to the Use of Force Bord, EDIC Stop and Search Board and the Learning the Lessons Board to ensure learning is shared.

Use of Force[1]

Use of Force per 1000 population							Ratio to White
	White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Other than White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Other than White
Force	2.59	2.31	2.30	6.69	6.33	4.01	0.89	0.89	2.58	2.44	1.55

The above table shows a breakdown of Use of Force incidents per 1,000 population and the ratio of various ethnicities to White people across the Force for reporting period 1st October 2022 to 31st December 2022.

• Ethnic Minority individuals are 2.58 times more likely to have force used upon them than White individuals. This is a decrease from that reported in the previous reporting period, when Ethnic Minorities were 2.68 times more likely to have force used upon them than White individuals.

When compared to the Most Similar Group of Police Forces (MSG), Essex has the fourth highest Ethnic Minority to White ratio for Use of Force, but the second lowest Black to White ratio[2].

[2] Home Office data 2020-21.

Stop and Search per 1000 population							Ratio to White
	White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Other than White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Other than White
Force	1.52	2.21	1.34	2.76	2.18	2.05	1.45	0.88	1.82	1.43	1.35

The above table shows a breakdown of stop and searches per 1,000 population and the ratio of various ethnicities to White across the Force in this reporting period.

• Ethnic Minority individuals are 1.34 times more likely to be stopped and searched than White individuals. This is a significant decrease from that reported in the previous reporting period, when Ethnic Minorities were 2.2 times more likely to be stop and searched than White individuals.
• LPSU ensure that 10% of all Stop & Searches completed are reviewed by a Staff member to QA the proportionality, necessity and justification for each stop. Feedback is provided to the individual and Use of Force Board.
• OPC – a deep dive paper is underway to look at the demographic data for Essex to get an accurate picture of the challenges faced. The deep dive will look at how officers are tasked and include the demographics for those visiting places such as Southend in the warmer months. OPC will work with L&D to review S&S training for new officers as well as refresher training.

Nationally, Essex ranks 6 out 8 in the Ethnic Minority to White ratio in our Most Similar Group (MSG) and has the third lowest Black to White ratio[3]. It should be noted that Police.uk have not yet moved to the 2021 Census data and are still using 2011 data.[4]

[3] MSG data are for the period November 2021 – April 2022.
[4] MSG data are for the period July – November 2022.

Activity

North LPA (Local Policing Area)

Lots of work going on across the North LPA. Officers attended the Chelmsford Mosque open day on Saturday 12th November and actively engaged with all attendees. The North LPA are working with a Muslim group setting up a youth club in Baddow. Officers attended a variety of different regular sessions including women’s only Yoga in Clacton for Muslim women. Engagement across schools is also ongoing and reaching a broad range of young people.  

A series of parenting drop-in events for those off on maternity leave, paternity leave etc are being arranged. There was one in Colchester before Christmas and a second planned in Braintree in the early part of 2023. These will be lead by officers in the command with support of the HELP Forum and HR. 

Our Equality Focus Panel continues to meet to review use of force and stop and searches for disproportionality across the LPA. Learning from this is always fed back as well as positive feedback for all involved. 

South LPA

Chief Inspectors have met one-to-one with all BAME officers and staff. Mentoring has been offered and has been taken up by several individuals. These meetings have been beneficial in capturing lived experiences in policing and given a better understanding of the challenges faced by our staff.

Culture & Welfare SPOCs have been chosen for each LPA shift, and they facilitate contact between the teams and the command team regarding Diversity, Equality & Inclusion (DE&I) and assist in encouraging the DE&I conversation.

Dashboard data has identified potential disproportionality in the number of arrests of BAME individual’s vs their representation as suspects. The Performance Analysis Unit provided an initial report suggesting there was disproportionality but with a low level of confidence, so further analysis is ongoing to provide further insight and confidence. Once this has been completed a thorough review of the data will take place to understand, identify and rectify where possible any disproportionality.

West LPA

The Children & Young People officers (CYPs) continue to engage with young people across the West LPA including a new community after school club and holiday clubs in Brentwood & Epping Forest District (EFD). The Youth Café project in Harlow is also ongoing with a focus on diverse groups. We are also working to divert young people into local employment/apprenticeship options, such as the mechanic project in Thurrock. 

CYPs are working with community partners, such as charities like Zinc and Phoenix Futures, to broaden the diversity of young people they are working with. Such projects include the creation of various apprenticeships and other non-traditional academic opportunities for young people. We are regularly linked in with a community boxing club in Epping. The intention is also to recruit to our police cadets through these partnerships.

[5] Data supplied by SMSR: Social & Market Strategic Research. Data to June 2022.

Extensive activity takes place across all commands to ensure confidence and satisfaction levels improve across many areas. To improve in this area, policing must be seen to act legitimately, ethically and are transparent in our activity and scrutiny.

Increase the confidence of Ethnic Minority people in the service they will receive from Essex Police as measured by the independent force survey

There is no significant statistical difference in White and Ethnic Minority respondents’ views for many questions. Where significant differences do exist, these tend to relate to perceptions of fairness for example in the use if stop search powers and treatment of complaints.

Respondents were asked the following questions:

• “Taking everything into account, how good a job do you think the police in this area are doing?” (Q13b)
• “How much would you agree or disagree that Essex Police understand the issues that affect your community?” (Q4)
• “If you were to report a crime or incident in the future, how confident are you that you would receive a good service from Essex Police?” (Q10)

Q13b	White % Good/Excellent (NET)	Ethnic Minority % Good/Excellent (NET)
12m to Mar 2021	79.4%	78.3%
12m to Jun 2021	79.9%	79.1%
12m to Sep 2021	81.4%	82.0%
12m to Dec 2021	80.4%	76.3%
12m to Mar 2022	79.4%	76.1%
12m to Jun 2022	78.4%	74.0%
12m to Sep 2022	76.4%	77.0%
12m to Dec 2022	74.7%	78.6%

• “How much would you agree or disagree that Essex Police understand the issues that affect your community?” (Q4)

Q4	White % Strongly/Tend To Agree (NET)	Ethnic Minority % Strongly/Tend To Agree (NET)
12m to Mar 2021	71.3%	72.5%
12m to Jun 2021	67.7%	68.0%
12m to Sep 2021	62.1%	61.6%
12m to Dec 2021	60.5%	56.8%
12m to Mar 2022	57.3%	59.4%
12m to Jun 2022	54.5%	61.1%
12m to Sep 2022	53.6%	61.8%
12m to Dec 2022	52.2%	62.0%

• “If you were to report a crime or incident in the future, how confident are you that you would receive a good service from Essex Police?” (Q10)

Q10	White % Very/Fairly Confident (NET)	Ethnic Minority % Very/Fairly Confident (NET)
12m to Mar 2021	77.8%	80.3%
12m to Jun 2021	77.7%	79.9%
12m to Sep 2021	78.3%	78.5%
12m to Dec 2021	76.3%	73.3%
12m to Mar 2022	75.1%	72.7%
12m to Jun 2022	73.4%	70.7%
12m to Sep 2022	70.4%	73.9%
12m to Dec 2022	68.9%	74.1%

• Ethnic Minority response to Q4, remain the same at 62% white responses have dropped to 52% to Q4, Q10 sees white responses drop 1% to 69%, ethnic responses remain static at 74%. Q13b sees a drop in white confidence in the 12 months to December 2022. Ethnic confidence has increased 3%pts since December 2021.

• Q13b: “Taking everything into account, how good a job do you think the police in this area are doing?”. Ethnic response up 2% pts to 79% white responses drop 1% to 75%. White respondents down 5%  for the 12 months to December 2022. Ethnic respondents up 3% for the 12 months to December 2022. The confidence gap between White and Ethnic Minority respondents is now 4% pts.

• Q4: “How much would you agree or disagree that Essex Police understand the issues that affect your community?”.  Ethnic responses remain at 62%, white responses have dropped to 52%. The level of confidence for Ethnic Minority respondents is 10% pts higher compared to White respondents. White confidence is down 9% in the 12 months to December 2022.Ethnic respondents are 5%pts better than in the 12 months to December 2022. 

• Q10: “If you were to report a crime or incident in the future, how confident are you that you would receive a good service from Essex Police?”.  Ethnic Minority respondents showed a higher level of confidence (74%) compared to White respondents (69%) in the 12 months to December 2022; this is a decrease of 7% pts for White respondents compared to the same period the previous year. Ethnic Minority respondents showed an increase of 1% pts. compared to the same period the previous year. The level of confidence for Ethnic Minority respondents has increased 1% pts, white respondents is down 7%.

Increase the confidence of Ethnic Minorities, 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

Respondents were asked the following questions:

• “If you were to make a complaint to Essex Police about an officer or staff member, do you think you would be treated fairly? (Q7)

Q7	White % Yes	Ethnic Minority % Yes
12m to Mar 2021	82.6%	73.8%
12m to Jun 2021	86.0%	76.6%
12m to Sep 2021	82.9%	68.0%
12m to Dec 2021	77.2%	58.7%
12m to Mar 2022	75.4%	60.3%
12m to Jun 2022	72.5%	60.5%
12m to Sep 2022	69.7%	63.2%
12m to Dec 2022	67.6%	63.9%

• “Please say how much you agree or disagree with the following statement: I am confident that the police use their stop and search power fairly and respectfully” (Q15)

Q15	White % Strongly/Tend To Agree (NET)	Ethnic Minority % Strongly/Tend To Agree (NET)
12m to Mar 2021	78.2%	70.9%
12m to Jun 2021	79.8%	71.6%
12m to Sep 2021	80.6%	69.6%
12m to Dec 2021	76.3%	57.7%
12m to Mar 2022	70.8%	61.9%
12m to Jun 2022	67.9%	60.0%
12m to Sep 2022	63.8%	60.3%
12m to Dec 2022	60.8%	59.7%

• White respondents answered less positively in the 12 months to December 2022 compared to the same period in the previous year to Q7 and Q15. Ethnic Minority respondents’ confidence level remained stable for both periods with an increase in %pts. for both questions. 

• Q7: “If you were to make a complaint to Essex Police about an officer or staff member, do you think you would be treated fairly?”.  Ethnic Minority respondents’ confidence remained stable in the 12 months to December 2022 with an increase of 5% pts. compared to a decrease of 9% pts. for White respondents. The disparity decreased from 18% pts. to 4% pts. compared to the same period in the previous year.

• Q15: “Please say how much you agree or disagree with the following statement: I am confident that the police use their stop and search power fairly and respectfully”. Confidence decreased by 15% pts. for White respondents (61%) in the 12 months to December 2022 compared to the same period in the previous year (76%), Ethnic Minority confidence remained stable with an increase of 2% pts in the same period (60% vs 58%). The level of confidence for Ethnic Minority respondents was 1% pt. lower compared to White respondents in the 12 months to December 2022, compared to 18% pts. lower for the same period in the previous year.

Example of activity to increase confidence and satisfaction:

Black History Month

Friday the 14th October 2022 saw MESA (Minority & Ethnic Support Association) host their in person event to celebrate Black History Month. A total of 60 attendees from both inside and outside of Essex Police met in person to celebrate black history month. The MESA chair, Chief Superintendent Jenny Barnett, spoke about her upbringing and policing career.

Black Communities’ Discussion Circle

Tuesday 17th October 2022 saw the Diversity & Inclusion Team launch their Black Communities’ Discussion Circle via MS Teams. A total of 14 people joined the call. Those on the call were from different parts of the County and a wide mix of age ranges. The discussion circle covered the following topics – National Police Race Action Plan, the Essex Police DEI Strategy and Stop & Search.

West LPA

The Challenge Panel meeting has been set up and regular Fairness and Equality challenge panels. The themes for this include stop & search, recruitment, hate crime and community tensions. In addition to this, Community Safety Engagement Officers (CSEO’s) have been holding focused park meets and engaging with residents.

Implement and conduct a quarterly review of ongoing action aligned with the NPCC toolkit

The NPCC/APCC Policing vision 2025 states that (by 2025) policing will be a profession with a more representative workforce that will align the right skills, powers, and experiences to meet challenging requirements. The delivery plan produced was a template for Chief Constables to provide leadership and cultural change to deliver NPCC/APCC Vision 2025.  The delivery plan sets out the key components to successfully achieving the vision by focussing on:

• Leadership and culture
• Attraction/recruitment
• Retention
• Progression
• Wellbeing and fulfilment
• Exit from service with dignity

There are 4 toolkits in total, broken down into 9 areas on the online action tracker:

1. Our Leadership and Culture (NPCC Workforce Representation - Attraction, Recruitment, Progression and Retention Toolkit)

2. Attraction and Recruitment (NPCC Workforce Representation - Attraction, Recruitment, Progression and Retention Toolkit)                                    

3. Retention (NPCC Workforce Representation - Attraction, Recruitment, Progression and Retention Toolkit)                 

4. Progression (NPCC Workforce Representation - Attraction, Recruitment, Progression and Retention Toolkit)  

5. Wellbeing and Fulfilment (NPCC Workforce Representation - Attraction, Recruitment, Progression and Retention Toolkit)

6. Exit from service with dignity (NPCC Workforce Representation - Attraction, Recruitment, Progression and Retention Toolkit)

7. NPCC Our Communities Toolkit

8. NPCC Our Organisation Toolkit

9. NPCC Our Partners Toolkit

Toolkit area	Actions started January 2022	Completed Actions to date	Actions not started	Total of Actions per toolkit area
1	0	17	0	17
2	7	24	0	31
3	1	8	0	9
4	2	6	0	8
5	0	5	0	5
6	3	4	0	7
7	3	6	0	9
8	0	11	0	11
9	6	2	0	8
Total	22	83	0	105

The Diversity and Inclusion Team are responsible for enabling and supporting progress against each action. Essex Police have chosen to adopt this national toolkit and included the delivery of it within the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

It should be noted that the current Toolkit will be replaced by the forthcoming Police Race Action Plan and its related toolkit.

The Pearlcatchers training is now in its latter stages and the mandatory content will be provided in-house in the months and years ahead. The training was launched on 14 July 2021 and is called ‘Leading Difference and Inclusion’ and focussed on the leader’s cohort (Sergeant and police staff grade SO1) between July 2021 and January 2022.  The training for the wider workforce commenced 17 January and will run through to November 2022.

• Phase 1 has concluded and has provided training for around 1,400 leaders (PS and SO1 and above).  This has been delivered in 2 modules with a commitment to embedding change through an action plan captured via a PDR objective.  Ten supporting monthly videos and podcasts will be launched monthly from early 2023.
• Phase 2 will provide training for around 5,200 of the general workforce between January - November 2022.  This is being delivered in 1 module. At the end of this reporting period, 3069 officers/staff and volunteers have already attended the training with a further 1038 booked on future sessions.
• Phase 3 will create an annual refresher online package for use from December 2022. 

Thereafter, the intellectual rights of this product will be owned, and training will be delivered by Essex Police Learning & Development Department.  Survey results indicate a strong increase in knowledge and understanding across the Leaders cohort and a positive response from the general workforce.

Develop a diversity dashboard to monitor our progress against our objectives.

The Performance Analysis Unit have developed a Diversity Dashboard which includes: Victims, Suspects, Arrests, Outcomes, DA, Hate Crime, Honour Based Crime, Racial Crime, Sexual Offences and Community Resolutions. Separate dashboards for Stop and Search and Use of Force have also been developed and is now delivered monthly.

LGBT Representation

There was an increase in the percentages of officers and staff who stated their sexual orientation - officers 5.03% (completion rate 67.23%), staff by 3.49% (completion rate 68.36%). The completion rate includes ‘prefer not to say.’

Example of activity to improve inclusive culture:

Islamophobia Awareness Month November

Chief Superintendent Waheed Khan produced an internal article providing a lived experience of being a Muslim. Former IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem provided an insight into code switching. Code-switching is a way of seamlessly blending into different social and professional situations where you are in a minority.

Disability discussion circle 10th November

16 people from across the county came together on MS teams to discuss all aspects of Disability. These conversations are designed to promote the rights of individuals with disabilities both hidden and visible.

Diversity Equality Inclusion Briefing Sessions

Vernal Scott, Essex Police’s D&I Manager, delivered DEI Briefing sessions to new recruits, newly promoted Sergeants and Inspectors. These interactive sessions are designed to promote the force DEI Strategy and prompt discussion around the 9 protected characteristics, promoting inclusion within the workplace. These on-going sessions give us the best opportunity to attract and retain our diverse talent.

Performance Information and Data

How Essex Police perform is reported to the Office for Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC) on a monthly and quarterly basis. This data includes information on Hate Crime offences at a force and district level. This data can be found on the following link:

Essex Police Performance - Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk)

The Police and Crime Commissioner also publishes quarterly reports on Essex Police conduct matters. This data includes a breakdown of complaints by ethnicity group. This data can be found on the following link:

Conduct & Professional Standards - Essex Police, Fire & Crime Commissioner (pfcc.police.uk)

Pay Equality

Each year Essex Police publish, separately to this report, an Equality Pay Gap report. The 2021 report was published in Spring 2022 on the Essex Police website:

Gender pay gap | Essex Police

Essex Police: Workforce Distribution

Each year Essex Police publish via the OPFCC website, a report which relates to the force’s attendance, strength full time equivalent (fte), turnover and diversity profiles. The link to this report is provided below:

https://www.essex.pfcc.police.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/7.0-HR-Commentary-2021-Mar-21-v0.7-Final-approved-15.04.21-update.pdf