Diversity in the Police Digital Conference
The largest police recruitment drive in decades has brought the issues of diversity and representation into the spotlight. Westminster Insight’s Diversity in the Police Digital Conference will share insightrs on the key issues facing forces.
With the increasing recruitment drive in the police force, this year’s highly awaited Diversity in the Police Digital Conference, taking place on May 18, 2021 looks to discuss the issue of under-representation within the police workforce; exploring how police organisations are tackling the issue with under-representation with BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) and LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) communities and how they create a more inclusive and diverse working environment.
The police workforce is facing rising concerns with police representation in different communities. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) will provide fresh and nuanced experience on this topic, highlighting aspects from enhancing police/community engagement to setting out the roadmap to building a long-term plan to expand representation in the police. NPCC chair Martin Hewitt QPM will delve into this further at the Keynote Address: Ensuring the Police Properly Represent their Communities.
His talk will examine a number of key issues including:
- The importance of a diverse workforce from the perspective of national security;
- How can the police improve their engagement with their communities, building on what has worked well so far; and
- Building long-term strategies to improve representation in the police by taking a highly proactive approach to inclusivity.
Other key speakers lined up for the event include Vanessa Jardine, deputy chief constable at West Midlands Police, and Gwent Police Deputy Chief Constable Amanda Blakeman, national disability portfolio lead for the NPCC.
Ms Jardine will be facilitating the case study: Lessons on Improving Staff Representation from the UK’s ‘Second Most Inclusive Employer’ alongside Thomas McNeil, board member and strategic adviser to the West Midlands police and crime commissioner as they expand on their lived-in experience on structural issues, diversity and culture.
The case study will deep dive into various topics from analysing the structural issues which lead to under-representation and building public trust in the police, working closely with staff networks to improve staff representation, diversity and culture to accurately assessing teams and implementing tangible targets to benefit the workforce.
Ms Blakeman will be presenting on ‘Promoting Equality of Opportunity for Disabled People Working in the Police’. She will provide further insight on vulnerable areas of diversifying the police and provide solutions to the barriers to employment for disabled people in the police. Other topics she will be expanding on include enabling more disabled and neuro-diverse people to join the force and justifying why the workforce should move from a medical model to a social model of disability in policing.
The Diversity in the Police conference will not only explore areas of under-representation but will provide a holistic agenda of first-hand experience of from senior officers and central government figures involved in police representation.
Chief constables, borough commanders, HR officers, client account managers, neighbourhood police officers and more will not only learn public perception of police workforce diversity and discuss the causes of disproportionality in the workforce but would hear insight on changes on recruitment and retention processes since the Covid-19 outbreak has increased awareness in police representation.
The full agenda and speaker line-up is available to download on the website. https://wminsgt.link/PoliceProf
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