Statutory Duty Information Report 2021/2022

Essex Police is both a public service and operational force on a determined path of holistic incremental improvements, led by our Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington and his Senior Leadership Team (SLT). We are committed to performing our policing duties to the highest of professional standards, with EDIC (Equality Diversity Inclusion and Cohesion) as inseparable intrinsic values and principles.

The make-up of Essex communities is changing, and Essex Police is in the process of changing too. We want to grow our knowledge and understanding of diverse community needs and aspirations. We are especially keen to ensure newer and more established communities live cohesively together. We also want our workforce to reflect the county’s increasing diversity, and as well as ongoing campaigns such as We Value Difference, this will be done through the building of trusting relationships with all the people that live, work, or visit Essex. It is through these improved relationships that we will help people, keep people safe and catch criminals. We will be proactive in working in collaboration with our key partners to prevent crimes and put the needs of our communities first. Supporting victims will remain a major priority.

In line with our responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 and the objectives set out in our Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy, this report contains data regarding the performance of Essex Police in respect of our published strategic (and Statutory Duty) DEI objectives. Statutory Duty Reports are an overview of objective-related activity, however, detailed performance reports are produced for our quarterly Diversity & Inclusion Board meetings and show progress against our published DEI objectives.

The Equality Act 2010 and the related Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) places a responsibility upon public sector organisations, including the Police Service, to set equality objectives and publish the progress made in delivering them. The Duty requires public sector organisations to consider how their policies or decisions affect people who are protected under the Equality Act and to publish information to demonstrate their compliance with the duty. It is our proud ambition to surpass the requirements of the Act. The Public Sector Equality Duty specifically requires public sector organisations to have due regard to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Act. We should also consider how different people are impacted 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, to be truly efficient and effective, are accessible to all and meet diverse needs.
• Foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Our approach to inclusion is exactly that; everyone is included.

Protected characteristics covered by the Equality Duty are:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender reassignment
• Marriage and civil partnership
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

The data presented here represents a snapshot of Essex Police, as of 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022. In compliance with the specific duty regulations, Essex Police will:

• 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).

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.

Wherever applicable, diversity, equality and inclusion principles are incorporated into our core business, and we actively seek to build and develop positive working relationships between people who are ‘different’ from each other. We are also keen to celebrate the many similarities between different people. As required by the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties) Regulations 2011, we are transparent about how we respond to the Equality Duty, but this is also in line with the integrity of our approach to all matters pertaining to diversity, equality and inclusion at Essex Police. We are not yet excellent regarding diversity, equality and inclusion matters, but this is our proud ambition.

Essex Police has set clear equality objectives in our Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion Strategy 2020-2025, in line with the requirements of the Equality Duty. During the period of this report the equality objectives were:

1.  Attract, recruit, progress and retain a more diverse workforce, that better reflects our communities, to improve confidence in Essex Police.
2. 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.
3. Increase satisfaction & confidence amongst protected groups, wider communities, and victims of crime. Tackle hate crime and address any complaints and concerns raised.
4. Adopt and advance the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy 2018-2025 and accompanying toolkits.
5. Improve inclusive culture through delivery of mandatory training, equality data analysis, equality and health impact assessment, and effective community engagement.

The Essex Police Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy, launched in November 2020.

The Strategy was developed in consultation with key stakeholders, including staff support associations and partner organisations. Crucially, it is complemented by local command-level DEI action plans, which when collated together, constitute the overall Essex Police Strategic DEI Action Plan. The principal purpose of the Strategy is to map and steer delivery of relevant activity to ensure progress against our published Statutory Duty equality objectives.

Please note that all activity in this report either took place virtually or within Covid-19 government guidelines.

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

Activity

Recruitment

‘We Value Difference’ is a continuous recruitment campaign which run throughout the course of the year – 2021 to 2022. It has been active in some form since the launch of the first official campaign in September 2020. During its first official launch, the Corporate Communications Campaigns Team measured the types of content created and other paid-for add-ons, read statistics and sentiment into how these were received on social media, and tracked website clicks, referral options and application numbers. Overall, the social campaign (which comprised of 155 social media posts) had a total, organic reach of just over 800k with just over 30k organic engagements on social media. The content with the biggest reach and most engagement were the human-led stories that showed our officers as real people who are policing the local community.

We have continued to explore specialist minority ethnic publications and events which we can use to promote our recruitment strands. For example, we advertised during the India cricket tests on Lyca Radio in London throughout May and June. We will continue to tell the stories of our diverse colleagues in new and interesting ways to support our paid-for advertising and specially designed graphics. A recent example of this is PS Anokhi Chouhan on BBC Bitesize, to encourage the next generation of police officers to join.

Essex Opportunities LIVE broadcast went out to Job seekers through Learn Live and showcased the new degree apprenticeships, rewards/benefits, other police staff roles, and support given to new recruits.  Number of live views for Episode 4 was 1,398, and Episode 5 was 1,561. The average watch time was 23 minutes. Visits to the page since the start of the Live Broadcast Series was 4,956. 

We tracked our total social media posts against the target number of applications provided (25 per week from Recruitment) as seen in the table below.

Week	Total posts	Planned posts	Applications	New target	Old target
Week 1	30	10	48	25	55
Week 2	52	12	31	25	55
Week 3	36	15	40	25	55
Week 4	43	20	35	25	55
Week 5	31	25	54	25	55
Week 6	22	32	63	25	55
Week 7	22	42	50	25	55
Week 8	13	45	31	25	55
Week 9	25	46	22	25	55
Week 10	28	46	60	25	55
Week 11	16	46	13	25	55

On average during this three-month period, we attracted 37 candidates per week to submit applications to be a police officer, with an average of 12% of these applications coming from ethnic minority backgrounds. During this time period, on average, 46% of our applications were from women, making it the highest recorded level of female applicants since pre-January 2020.  

For the rest of the year, we will continue to measure our paid for and organic activity against the number of applications and the amount of people we are drawing to the website (as per below tables).

Monthly page views to entire careers section:

Month	Page views
Feb 2022	48,025
Mar 2022	35,890
Apr 2022	38,671
May 2022	36,390
Jun 2022	35,163

Monthly average page view (Feb 2022 - Jun 2022):

Career strand	Average monthly page views
Careers section	38,828
Police Staff landing page	7,451
PC landing page	4,938
Investigate First landing page	1,783
Specials landing page	866
Transferee landing page	755
PCSO landing page	563

Monthly page views to PC landing page:

Month	Page views
Feb 2022	9,432
Mar 2022	3,260
Apr 2022	2,594
May 2022	5,363
Jun 2022	4,043

Monthly page views to Police Staff landing page:

Month	Page views
Feb 2022	9,917
Mar 2022	5,367
Apr 2022	13,492
May 2022	4,265
Jun 2022	4,213

Monthly page views to Specials landing page:

Month	Page views
Feb 2022	1,084
Mar 2022	1,009
Apr 2022	667
May 2022	792
Jun 2022	777

Monthly page views to Investigate First landing page:

Month	Page views
Feb 2022	2,246
Mar 2022	2,218
Apr 2022	1,442
May 2022	1,331
Jun 2022	1,679

Monthly page views to PCSO landing page:

Month	Page views
Feb 2022	518
Mar 2022	466
Apr 2022	641
May 2022	601
Jun 2022	588

Monthly page views to Transferee landing page:

Month	Page views
Feb 2022	738
Mar 2022	757
Apr 2022	723
May 2022	850
Jun 2022	707

Additional activity to support this work-stream includes, but is not limited to:

• Continued distribution of our recruitment packs to our workforce
• Articles and advertisements published in various publications, including specialist channels targeting diverse communities
• Social Media posts to promotes International Women’s Day and profiles of existing staff and officers with an aim to gain more female applicants
• Social media posts to support Pride
• Video shorts to showcase individual officers’ experience of Essex Police
• A campaign to encourage those having left the organisation in recent years to re-join and to encourage transferees.

Building on our ‘We Value’ narrative we created the ‘We Value You’ brand and narrative for our series of Chief’s Tour, 6,000 Conversations Employee Engagement Events. Whilst this presented an opportunity for Chief Officers to ratify and embed our new Force Plan with police officers and staff, this presented an opportunity to build on the Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy and training by reinforcing those values as a common thread all the way through.

The events themselves were the embodiment of inclusivity as they brought together staff in all roles and grades to talk to each other and share their views with our Chief Officer Team. A strategic work stream that has grown out of these events is addressing police staff parity of esteem.

This work stream seeks to create inclusivity and equality across the force by redressing the perceived and lived experience of police staff in feeling of less organisational consequence than operational colleagues. This work stream is a direct result of the Chief’s Tour conversations.

The continuation of the ‘We Value’ branding continues to ensure that the ethos and sentiment of ‘We Value Difference’ is continued across our internal and external conversations.

Workforce Representation:

The below tables illustrates the percentage of female staff, and staff from ethnic minority backgrounds, over five years. The current proportion of 4.17% in the police officer - ethnic minority category is now only 2.39 percentage points under the economically active population of Essex (6.56%). It also represents the organisation’s highest ever proportion of officers from ethnic minority backgrounds to date. The current Force total and proportion of female officers is 1306 / 35.83%, which is also higher than any previously recorded level for the organisation.

Police:

Date	Ethnic Minorities HC	Ethnic Minorities %	Female HC	Female %
31/03/2018	66	2.17	972	31.95
31/03/2019	82	2.60	1037	32.88
31/03/2020	107	3.17	1150	34.08
31/03/2021	130	3.72	1205	34.53
31/03/2022	152	4.17	1306	35.83

Staff (exc PCSO):

Date	Ethnic Minorities HC	Ethnic Minorities %	Female HC	Female %
31/03/2018	76	3.50	1397	64.35
31/03/2019	80	3.62	1431	64.84
31/03/2020	85	3.74	1477	65.01
31/03/2021	104	4.45	1525	65.20
31/03/2022	105	4.48	1537	65.63

PCSO:

Date	Ethnic Minorities HC	Ethnic Minorities %	Female HC	Female %
31/03/2018	1	0.99	55	54.56
31/03/2019	3	2.56	60	51.28
31/03/2020	3	2.50	66	55.00
31/03/2021	1	0.91	64	58.18
31/03/2022	1	0.97	65	63.11

Specials:

Date	Ethnic Minorities HC	Ethnic Minorities %	Female HC	Female %
31/03/2018	21	4.92	129	30.21
31/03/2019	37	7.16	152	29.40
31/03/2020	36	6.91	167	32.05
31/03/2021	35	6.64	171	32.45
31/03/2022	28	6.02	159	34.19

Total Workforce:

Date	Ethnic Minorities % of Total Work Force	Female % of Total Work Force
31/03/2018	2.86	44.47
31/03/2019	3.37	44.70
31/03/2020	3.67	45.49
31/03/2021	4.18	45.86
31/03/2022	4.36	46.79

Essex Police continues to attract officers and staff from ethnic minority backgrounds, including those at junior ranks/grades through to senior grades, such as Superintendent and Chief Superintendent.

The following tables detail declaration of protected characteristics across the workforce. This is important for the force to understand the diverse make-up of the organisation, and its work towards our strategic aim of being representative of the communities we serve.

The workforce must feel safe to declare their protected characteristic and 100% completion rates for declaring gender and ethnicity is pleasing to see.

Gender: Female

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	1306	35.83% (Up)	34.53%	100.00%	100.00%
Staff	1537	65.63% (Up)	65.20%	100.00%	100.00%
PCSOs	65	63.11% (Up)	58.18%	100.00%	100.00%
Specials	159	34.19% (Up)	32.45%	100.00%	100.00%

Self Declared Gender: Prefer to Self Describe

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	2	0.05% (Down)	0.09%	66.99%	-
Staff	4	0.17% (Up)	0.09%	68.40%	-
PCSOs	0	0.00% ()	0.00%	47.57%	-
Specials	0	0.00% ()	0.00%	77.14%	-

Religion: Declared a religion

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	815	22.36% (Up)	21.52%	63.64%	25.39%
Staff	676	28.86% (Up)	27.70%	64.09%	32.06%
PCSOs	23	22.33% (Down)	24.55%	44.66%	27.12%
Specials	144	30.97% (Up)	28.65%	75.43%	28.23%

Ethnicity: Ethnic Minorities

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	152	4.17% (Up)	3.72%	100%	99.73%
Staff	105	4.48% (Up)	4.45%	100%	99.41%
PCSOs	1	0.97% (Up)	0.91%	100%	98.73%
Specials	28	6.02% (Down)	6.64%	100%	99.46%

Sexuality: Bisexual / Gay / Lesbian

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	173	4.75% (Up)	3.98%	66.03%	26.16%
Staff	80	3.42% (Up)	2.91%	67.21%	33.75%
PCSOs	3	2.91% (Down)	3.64%	47.57%	26.69%
Specials	21	4.52% (Up)	3.98%	76.92%	30.38%

Disability: Yes

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	200	5.49% (Up)	4.90%	35.26%	15.49%
Staff	210	8.97% (Up)	7.95%	44.06%	24.69%
PCSOs	9	8.74% (Up)	8.18%	23.30%	10.59%
Specials	4	0.86% (Up)	0.19%	30.56%	26.88%

Nationality: Declared Nationalities Excluding British

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	43	1.18% (Up)	1.03%	98.88%	99.93%
Staff	40	1.71% (Down)	1.71%	98.21%	99.90%
PCSOs	0	0.00% (Same)	0.00%	100%	100%
Specials	14	3.01% (Down)	3.98%	98.93%	97.31%

Marital Status: Married or Civil Partnership

Employee Group	31/03/2022 No.(H'count)	% as at 31/03/2022 & Direction of Travel vs 31/03/2021	31/03/2021 Position	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2022	Diversity Category Completion Rates 31/03/2016
Officers	1240	34.02% (Down)	36.59%	55.99%	94.81%
Staff	928	39.62% (Down)	40.44%	61.49%	83.72%
PCSOs	53	51.46% (Down)	53.64%	85.44%	98.73%
Specials	40	8.60% (Up)	7.97%	19.66%	61.29%

Age Grouping:

Employee Group	18-24	25-39	40-54	55+
Officers	12.24%	50.75%	35.17%	1.84%
Staff	5.59%	32.15%	34.33%	27.92%
PCSOs	0.97%	31.07%	39.81%	28.16%
Specials	24.73%	48.39%	21.51%	6.02%

Activity

The Positive Action (PA) team worked closely with the Community Policing Teams (CPT), Community Safety Engagement Officers (CSEO) and attended various community events to engage and talk about policing as a rewarding career choice. They concentrated on the most diverse areas of the county with the largest footfall of people. A goal of the engagements was to establish long lasting relationships, so that there is consistency of discourse about policing careers beyond one-off events. On the back of this work, the team continued to build relationships with charities and partner agencies, such as African Families UK, Colchester 360 etc. Four workshops were held, specifically for ethnic minority and female candidates, providing a safe environment to offer additional support/hints and tips on how to prepare an application and successfully navigate the recruitment process.

The PA Team attended many Independent Advisory Groups (IAG’s) meetings which proved to be a fantastic opportunity to engage with local diverse communities. Attendance at these meetings has helped to build effective working relationships, for example, our presence at the Thurrock IAG developed into an opportunity to present to a Nigerian faith group and establish a trusting and productive relationship concerning policing career opportunities. The PA team have also participated in Emergency Service events, such as with the SOS Careers Bus, linking in with our external partners that form part of the Community Safety Partnerships.  

Outreach activity for the monitored 2021/22 period included but was not limited to:

• Discovery Events at Braintree Discovery Centre – a general community engagement opportunity to showcase careers at Essex Police
• Attendance at Independent Advisory Group meetings – talking about the work of PA team, relevant pathways, and general information about Essex Police
• Pre-application workshop offering help, support, assistance to applicants
• Attending Youth Council meetings engaging with young people of Essex discussing policing as a career choice  
• Attendance at the Thurrock, Basildon, Tendring and Chelmsford IAGs – providing a general PA input around our aims, objectives and encouraging communities to consider careers in policing
• Attendance at events held at Rayleigh Town Council Sports Pavilion – CPT and PA work together understanding residents concerns, building relationships with the community and discussing roles in policing
• Rochford Parish Council recruitment event showcasing pathways into policing
• Children Young Person’s (CYP) Training Day to address and reach different communities and underrepresented groups 
• Canewdon Village Hall recruitment event with Community Policing Team(CPT)/Community Safety Engagement Officers (CSEOS) 
• Rochford Market Day Outreach/recruitment event with the CPT  
• Clacton Day of Action, including Fire, the SOS bus, Next Chapter, Business Crime unit and  Essex watch 
• Positive Action Virtual Roadshow – two weeks of virtual engagements with young people across Essex between 21st June – 2nd July 2021

The Positive Action Virtual Roadshow is aimed at all schools and Higher Education (HE) establishments. The team brought together key external partners, working alongside internal colleagues. The aim of the roadshow is to help build trust and confidence within our communities, to work in collaboration with our external partners, and to promote policing as a career choice. The hosts discussed topics such as:

• Violence against Women & Girls
• Knife Crime
• Hate Crime
• Dreams & Aspirations/making informed choices
• Child abuse and exploitation
• Positive Action/Recruitment/Degree apprenticeships
• Poetry inputs

Additional PA engagement with schools, colleges, and universities included bespoke inputs for ‘Public Service’ courses and careers fairs for the relevant year groups. The team worked in partnership with HR Corporate Recruitment and HR Innovation to deliver presentations on careers with Essex police.  

A key part of the Positive Action teams work is to support retention and progression of those from underrepresented groups. Once in the organisation it is important to support those from diverse backgrounds to reach their full potential. Events to support this strategic aim included:

• Females focus groups – the team have held 6 internal events looking to inspire female officers to work towards promotion or roles within specialist departments
• Several ‘Support Staff Focus Groups’ have been held focusing on breaking down real or perceived barriers faced by female staff and how to prepare for promotion processes
• Disability focus group focusing on breaking down the barriers for staff with disabilities
• Sergeant/Inspector Board preparation workshops – 7 internal events to advise, support and help officers prepare for the exams and interview processes including holding a ‘Confidence Workshop’.

The Force Control Room are recruiting have welcomed 40 new members of staff into the command on 4 different contracts. The contracted hours lend themselves to attract different pools of people from our communities such as parents, carers, and students. The command is open to flexible working with approx. 52% of its workforce on some form of pattern to assist their needs.  

The Force Control Room run a Buddy Scheme which supports new members of staff waiting to join the command and pairs them up with a member of existing staff. This is a good way to help the new member of staff make the transition into the command and helps them feel supported and included in the commands ‘one team’ approach.

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.

Use of Force (UoF): Use of Force per 1000 population

FY	White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Ethnic Minorities
2020/21	9.64	12.6	9.34	50.35	26.74	23.29
2021/22	11.42	13.22	11.66	46.99	33.63	23.76

Use of Force (UoF): Ratio to White

FY	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Ethnic Minorities
2020/21	1.31	0.97	5.22	2.77	2.42
2021/22	1.16	1.02	4.11	2.94	2.08

The above tables shows Use of Force data for the past two full financial years. In 2021/22, an individual from an ethnic minority is 2.08 times more likely to have force used upon them than a white individual, this is a reduction from 2.42 times more likely the previous financial year.

Stop and Search (S&S): Stop Search per 1000 population

FY	White	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Ethnic Minorities
2020/21	10.44	17.91	16.80	44.64	17.00	25.28
2021/22	6.68	9.87	9.53	24.35	15.81	14.35

Stop and Search (S&S): Ratio to White

FY	Mixed	Asian or Asian British	Black or Black British	Chinese or Other Ethnic Group	Total Ethnic Minorities
2020/21	1.72	1.61	4.28	1.63	2.42
2021/22	1.48	1.43	3.65	2.37	2.15

The above table shows Stop and Search data for the past two full financial years. In 2021/22, an individual from an ethnic minority is 2.15 times more likely to be stopped than a white individual, this is a reduction from 2.42 times more likely the previous financial year.

Stop and Search is a public safety policing practice whereby members of the public are searched by officers when they are suspected of possessing stolen or prohibited articles or offensive weapons, to allay or confirm suspicions about individuals without exercising powers of arrest. Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 creates the power for a constable to stop and search persons and vehicles, however, there are numerous legislative powers available to a constable to conduct a stop and search procedure. Essex Police is determined to ensure that officers are aware of the main stop and search powers available to them within their current role and that professionalism underpins practice. All police officers must recognise that searches are more likely to be effective, legitimate, and secure public confidence when their reasonable grounds for suspicion are based on a range of objective factors.  The overall use of these powers is more likely to be effective when up-to-date and accurate intelligence or information is communicated to officers, and they are well-informed about local crime patterns.

A synopsis of related Stop and Search (S&S) activity:

As part of our ongoing commitment to ensure we are using our stop and search powers fairly and effectively, we have put in place a range of both internal and external monitoring and governance processes. One example of this was through a review of the top five most searched individuals in Essex in 2021. This review was conducted with a panel of Independent Advisory Group (IAG) members to review each of the stops to ensure they were justified, proportionate, effective and fair. The top five individuals had each been stopped between 10 and 16 times in the 12 month period. Four of the individuals were male and one female. They ranged in age and all of the individuals had provided their self-defined ethnicity as White.

Our ongoing commitment to ensure we are using our stop and search powers fairly and effectively also includes the training provided to our officers who conduct stop search. In September 2021 we launched the ‘Refreshed Approach to Stop and Search’ package across the Force. This package updated the training our officers receive to improve our interactions with individuals who are subjected to stop search, with a clear focus around how we close the interactions in a more positive manner following a negative search. The nationally recognised GOWISELY mnemonic was amended to include R - ‘Reassurance and Safeguarding’ and was delivered through a mandated e-learning package, reinforced in the mandatory annual officer Personal Safety Training and provided as part of the new police recruit foundation training. Additional training for Local Policing Team officers will be delivered via scheduled training days (known as FLEX training) during April/May 2022.

Further activity to scrutinise police use of stop and search has seen a monthly review meeting between the Tactical Stop and Search Lead and Communities Coordinator to review stop and search data including the reasonable grounds, Self Defined Ethnicity (SDE) compliance, use of officers Body Worn Video (BWV) and Section 60 authorities (proportionality and justification). The Force Tactical Lead has also linked in with the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) development event on Stop and Search to discover national best practice and learning which has been implemented within Essex Police.

During December 2021, the Force Tactical Lead led on an independent review of the Top 5 most searched individuals with members of the Strategic Independent Advisory Group (SIAG) – the overarching residents’ police liaison and scrutiny group. This was very well received, and no issues of concern were identified. Furthermore, there were no links between the Top 5 most searched and disproportionality.

In January 2022, the force introduced Body Worn Video (BWV) Review Panels for all Local Policing Area Commands. The panels monitor at least 10 of their officers stop and searches and assess them against the recently developed Procedural Justice framework. Learning is shared across the LPAs and via the Learning the Lessons Board.

Creation of an Engagement Action Plan – the Stop & Search lead is utilising the IAG network and other community groups to identify the best way to talk to communities about the impact of disproportionality. We have spent considerable time linking in with various IAGs around the county over the past 12 months to discuss this particular topic and also encourage them to consider new and innovative ways of monitoring stop and search activity in their respective areas. We have also utilised the IAG network to implement the independent BWV Review Panel and have more recently followed this up with a media campaign to highlight the work of the group and what we are doing to monitor and address disproportionality.

Training for officers - Focusing on the quality of an interaction and the closure of any stop and search activity, especially when the search is negative, maximising the opportunity to ensure the interaction was constructive. Over the past 12 months we have created, delivered, and embedded the Refreshed Approach to Stop and Search in Essex which has focused on the quality of officers’ interactions when conducting stop and search, and specifically the closure when the search is negative. This was not only delivered through mandatory e-learning but also through annual personal safety refreshers (including role playing scenarios) and FLEX training.

The Use of Force Board met quarterly during the period with a remit to ensure fairness in practice and compliance regarding the recording of ethnicity in our Stop and Search operations. Racial disparities were not resolved during the period and the work will therefore continue into 22/23 with a dedicated action plan.

Activity

Victim’s Feedback Panel – In May 2021, Essex Police and partners hosted the first Victim’s Feedback Panel led by the Crime & Public Protection Command, where victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence had a two-way conversation to continue to shape the service that they receive with interaction and updates.  It challenges policing and partner agencies to promote the welfare of victims. Victims are directly involved in the panel, in-person or through recorded video. The approach is about continuous learning and development, as victims are the forefront of all that we do. The second panel held February 2022, was attended by almost 100 officers and staff from all ranks across the force who deal with victims, including Local Policing Team (LPT) and Community Policing Team (CPT), Contact Management and Crime & Public Protection, via Microsoft Teams. The panel focus was on the experiences of ethnic minority victims. There were specific case studies delivered by commissioned victim services who form part of the panel, powerful video testimony from a victim of hate crime and a Q&A session. The panels have themes such as sexual abuse or domestic abuse. Future panels will examine young/child victims, Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) and victims of male-on-male sexual violence.

Operational Policing Command (OPC) provided training for officers throughout the reporting period to improve knowledge, develop best practice and improve interactions during stop and search with a view to improving legality and legitimacy. As in previous years, Commands have also presented stop & search data at their respective Independent Advisory Group (IAG) meetings for scrutiny and comment.  The West Local Policing Area (LPA) have been actively quality assuring public interaction through the monitoring of BWV, dip checking and follow up calls by Command leaders. The involvement of community members in random dip sampling has been praised, especially by Black community participants, and will be an ongoing activity which adds value to officer training.

Professional Standards Department (PSD) – PSD have held 3 IAG meetings which have included 2 training sessions looking at complaint and conduct regulations. A recent IAG was held looking at an anonymised conduct complaint. The cooperation from the group was at a high standard and promoted a good level of conversation around decision making. A set of questions were posed, and feedback has been taken on board and fed back to the Head of Department. At the IAG we also raise issues discussed at the ‘Integrity and Counter Corruption Board’ where appropriate, such as the acceptance of alcohol as a gift from members of the public and views on relationships within the organisation.

Essex Police has convened the ‘VAWG Oversight Board’ consisting of relevant key stakeholders and heads of Command to tackle Violence Against Women and Girls. The NPCC Strategy and Delivery Plan has been published with clear objectives set by the NPCC which Essex Police are either already working towards or have plans in place to meet the required standards. The Essex Police Tackling VAWG Strategy is now launched but was in draft form during the period of this report. The final strategy is consistent with the national approach, even prior to its publication. All work streams currently sit within the key areas of high harm investigations, culture and behaviour and safer spaces with a focus on both the internal and external aspects of this. Essex Police continues to work with key partners to take a whole system approach to VAWG.

The Crime and Public Protection Command (C&PP) has mandated trauma-informed practice training to the entire Command during this reporting period. This training is key to educating officers and staff how traumatised adults and children present when they have been victim of sexual abuse or adverse childhood experiences and ensures that they are dealt with appropriately and sympathetically, understanding challenging behaviours that may present. Specific to the Force DEI strategy, this pertains to narrowing the disparity (a consistent service across the county to all victims of crime) and increasing satisfaction and confidence among our victims. The command has continued to work with partners to stage further ‘Operation Limelight’ days of action at Stansted airport to raise awareness, gather intelligence and act as a preventative measure in relation to Female Genital Mutilation. Internally, C&PP has provided Flex training on Honour Based Abuse, Female Genital Mutilation and Forced Marriage to hundreds of officers this summer.

West Local Policing Area - The Thurrock Challenge Panel started in February 2021 and continued in this reporting period to provide a well-attended opportunity to engage and facilitate the concerns and aspirations of ethnic and other minority communities, many of whom are currently underrepresented at IAGs. The panel explored policing tactics in the local area and across the West LPA and helped to bridge the gap between policing and local communities by scrutinising and explaining policing tactics. Frequent presentations and updates by Essex Police personnel had been well received. Core membership consists of community leaders, faith leaders, minority champions, community representatives, local councillors, young people, and local business members.

Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader Status) – the Ability Working Group was established to oversee attainment of the highest level and good progress was made. Every part of Essex Police business was represented. External advisors and internal managers worked together to ensure the necessary work was undertaken and evidence gathered.  This a proud achievement that will be built upon in the months and years ahead to ensure the holistic aspirations of disabled people are realised.

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

Activity

To compliment the ‘We Value Difference’ campaign, the next iteration of the ‘We Value’ branding – ‘We Value our Communities’ will focus on building our conversation around inclusivity and procedural justice with our communities. This is with the aim of improving confidence and satisfaction amongst protected groups by showing how police use their powers legitimately. This strand of ‘We Value’ speaks to proportionality specifically relating to stop and search powers and Body Worn Video (BWV). Our objective will be to explain to our public why we do the things we do in a bid to create greater understanding and unity with our communities, to demonstrate our proportionality, to be transparent about our procedures and processes and to listen and learn where we do not get things right.

We also continue our external conversations with our public to demonstrate our commitment to tackling all forms of hate crime – it is important to show victims that we will act and they will be listened to. It is important to show perpetrators they will be dealt with robustly. To this end, in the reporting period, we have proactively publicised several hate crimes – from the outset of the incident through to the criminal justice conclusion. These cases have included: a violent attack on a Rabbi outside of a Synagogue in, following which the defendant pleaded guilty and the victim spoke of his praise for Essex Police; the conviction of a man for sending Anti-Semitic letters to a TV personality, who again spoke publicly of his praise for Essex Police’s handling of the investigation; and the arrest of a number of West Ham fans who sang Anti-Semitic abuse at a man on a flight at Stansted airport. In these instances, we have taken the opportunity to proactively highlight our robust stance upon hate crime and to encourage other victims to have confidence in our force that they will be heard if they come to us for help.

Harlow CPT have launched Operation Reconsider which requires Inspector oversight for any hate crime investigation to be closed because the victim withdrew support for the investigation. This gives the victim several opportunities to continue with the investigation and allows us to secure the best possible outcomes. The operation will be trialed in Harlow then implemented in other districts once its impact can be measured. Hate crime incidents in the West LPA are disproportionally racial (1013 in 2021-22 compared to the next highest, disability with 197), therefore improving our victim satisfaction mostly targets those of a minority ethnic background. However, there will also be improvement for other protected groups with this policy.

From 2021-22 the number of Hate Crime Ambassadors has expanded by 30 people. Hate Crime Awareness Training has also been delivered to 168 people from various community organisations. Engagement has additionally been made with 122 Youth Ambassadors. The Hate Crime Officer for the West LPA has provided safeguarding to 21 victims of Hate Crime, referred 7 people to Victim Support and attended numerous multi-agency meetings representing victims.

Public Perception and Satisfaction in Essex

The Essex Police Public Perceptions Survey data we use for public perceptions is provided on a quarterly basis and has year on year comparisons. Since the survey began approx. 40,500 Essex residents have been interviewed – approx. 2,888 in each of the 14 Districts. Fieldwork has previously been split between interviews taking place over the phone and face to face, however, due to the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak all interviews from Quarter 1 20/21 onward took place over the phone. Results have been weighted to accurately represent the population size and demographics of each District, and the report presents the results at an annual and quarterly level to compare the performance of Essex Police and highlight significant changes in public perceptions over time. District and demographic analysis combine the sample from the four quarters over the last 12 months to add greater confidence to the results, and future reports will continue to track changes in public perception levels and identify high performing areas and those with need for improvement.

There is no difference in White and Ethnic minority respondents’ views for many questions, including the main confidence question (81% and 82% respectively). Where significant differences do exist, these tend to relate to perceptions of fairness for example in the use of stop search powers and treatment of complaints.

Following Covid-19, residents were asked about how well the Covid-19 pandemic has been policed.  70% of those surveyed believe that Essex Police were doing an Excellent/Good job during the pandemic. This has not significantly changed over the course of the pandemic.

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

Activity

For a structured, evidence-based method to support this objective an online action tracker was created for each section and individual action for the NPCC DEI strategy toolkits.

Evidence of activity has been recorded in this period and is continuing to be recorded for each area in the Essex DEI action tracker using a traffic light system (red, amber, green) to highlight completion levels, areas of good practice, and monitor areas of risk. This will provide a mechanism for Chief Officers and other organisations such as Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) or the College of Policing (CoP) to review.

There are 151 actions in the NPCC Online Action Tracker, and each action is assigned to one or more owners relevant to the request. Completion of the actions is key in demonstrating the progress Essex Police is making to support the DEI strategy and identifying areas of strength and areas of risk. Capturing evidence-based data throughout the organisation will support progression in an ethical and auditable format to demonstrate best practice, better support for our employees and the communities that we serve.

The Essex Police Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Strategy will have positive implications for workforce development, community relations, and legal compliance with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. As the majority of action owners are at senior level/heads of department, the NPCC DEI Strategy has been circulated amongst teams so the awareness is Force wide, through meetings, newsletters and at Continuous Professional Development (CPD) days.  Personal Development Review (PDR) objectives are used to reinforce relevant areas including training inputs and awareness of the strategy. It has also been used to form local strategies within LPAs.

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

 

The overall performance of Essex Police is reported to the Office for Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner (OPFCC) on a monthly, quarterly, and annual basis. This data includes information on HR performance, Hate Crime offences and more, at a force and district level. This data can be found on the following links:

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

Performance and Resources Scrutiny Board (Policing and Crime) - 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. Please note that the data at this link is updated over time, so the most recent data may be pending:

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

Each year Essex Police publish, separately to this report, an Equality Pay Gap report. Historical and the latest reports can be found at this link:

Gender Pay Gap Report March 2022 (essex.police.uk)

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:

7.0-HR-Commentary-2022-March-22-v0.4.pdf (pfcc.police.uk)