Annual diversity and inclusion report - January 2023

Like other public bodies, we have a legal responsibility to tackle discrimination and promote equality on the grounds of nine protected characteristics.

We must consider these in everything we do.

These responsibilities are referred to as the public-sector equality duty.

The general equality duty requires us to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not
• foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not share it

In addition to these general duties, the police service and some other public bodies have a number of specific duties which require public bodies to publish information to show their compliance with the Equality Duty, at least annually. This information is published on our website. We are also required to publish equality objectives at least every four years. This report highlights just some of the first-class activity that has been undertaken working towards our objectives.

Our further objectives to increase the aims of the Equality Duty are:

• increase the number of officers, staff and volunteers with protected characteristics to be more reflective of the population in Kent in line with the 2021 Census
• increase the number of officers, staff and volunteers self-declaring their diversity status to identify barriers to progression for under-represented groups
• the Positive Action team will identify, monitor and review processes to ensure the recruitment, retention and progression of staff across the organisation. This will include focussing on increasing members of our workforce who are in specialist roles and leadership positions. This will help us to ensure that we are more representative of our diverse communities and help us to ensure we continue to meet the needs of the widest communities
• through the force governance of the Diversity and Inclusion Board the force will utilise equality data and monitoring to assist with identifying trends, gaps and provide analysis

Our diversity data report, to demonstrate our progress on the objectives, is published annually on our website.

Our Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2021-2024 (ADD LINK) provides five further objectives that underpin all our activity. These are highlighted in this report.

The Diversity and Inclusion Command has overall responsibility for setting the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and ensuring the organisational delivery of the strategy. Under the leadership of the Diversity and Inclusion Command the Diversity and Inclusion Academy and the Positive Action team will drive the activity that underpins the strategy.

The Command is driven to build on the work already started to make Kent Police an inclusive organisation, where every person feels valued, has both the opportunity and environment to contribute to the successes of the organisation and their teams. Where barriers are identified and removed, to ensure everyone has the chance to develop and progress.

Objective 1

We will be an employer of choice for all communities in Kent

Kent Police is a Disability Confident Employer

Disability Confident is creating a movement of change, encouraging employers to think differently about disability and take action to improve how they recruit, retain and develop disabled people. It was developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives. The self-assessment is grouped into two themes:

1. getting the right people for your business
2. keeping and developing your people

Our ambition is to become a ‘Disability Confident Leader’ and we are working with our staff network ‘Enable’ to achieve this.

Kent Police has made a commitment to recruit and retain disabled people and ensure this is reflected in job adverts so Kent Police will ensure potential applicants, at all levels, know it is an inclusive employer and we will adhere to the Equality Act 2010 to make reasonable adjustments in the workplace where a disabled person would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage compared with their colleagues. In addition, we will accommodate the needs of officers and staff who might be disabled to make sure the force is accessible to everyone, including physical and hidden disabilities and sensory impairments.

Support and Welfare

To support and retain our staff we need to ensure an enhanced level of support is provided to any officer or staff member who are unfortunate enough to be assaulted or become a victim of a hate crime or incident. The Diversity and Inclusion Academy have developed a new form and process for the ‘Nine Point Plan’, to allow a consistent approach across the force and to provide a holistic view, allowing themes and trends to be identified to ensure the best level of support is provided and learning opportunities are not missed.

Carers Week

As part of Carers Week, 7 to 13 June 2022, several activities took place to mark the week with a theme of ‘Making caring visible, valued and supported’ including attendance at a carers marketplace at the Corn Exchange, Rochester where there was representation from the Medway Taskforce and Recruitment highlighting Kent Police as an employer of choice. Several partnership carer sessions included lived experiences, information from Human Resources, Health Services, Carer Groups, Benevolent Fund, Unison and Kent Police Federation to ensure colleagues knew of options for early guidance and signposting support.

Volunteer Police Cadets

The Kent Volunteer Police Cadet Programme has grown from strength to strength since its launch in 2016 with a total of 431 active cadets across 12 units in the county.

The programme welcomes cadets from any background, social group, gender, ethnicity, ability/disability and cadets do not need to have an interest in joining the police.

There are also over 100 volunteer leaders from both policing and non-policing background who give up their time freely each week to support our cadets.

The cadets have volunteered over 21,000 hours in their community since the inception of the programme. They took part in Vaisakhi in April and Remembrance parades of which there are 99 in November, alongside supporting many other community supporting events.

The diversity and inclusion officers interacted and visited all of the units, and delivered inspiring inputs earlier in the year. A number of units have received an input from Reform, Restore, Respect – a charity highlighting the risk to vulnerable groups from county lines gangs. In 2023 it is envisaged that all cadet units will have an LGBGTI+ SPOC within their leader team and all units will have an input on modern slavery. An input on recruitment for underrepresented groups and a focus on the Race Action Plan is being scoped for delivery at all units.

Carer Confident Employer

We are currently completing our assessment to become a ‘Carer Confident Employer’ which is ‘Employers for carers’ benchmarking scheme. This is both good employment practice and good business sense as it focuses on building a supportive and inclusive workplace for officers/ staff who are, or will become, carers and to make the most of the talents that our colleagues as carers can bring to the workplace.

Maternity/adoption pay

Chief Constable Tim Smith approved an important change to maternity and adoption pay for Kent Police staff, which will mean that police staff receive the same benefits as their police officer colleagues. The enhancement entitles eligible staff to receive full occupational pay for the first 21 weeks of their maternity or adoption leave.

Disability History Month

Disability History Month (DHM) took place between 16 November to 16 December 2022 and was an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of people living with a disability and raise awareness. Enable, the force support group for officers and staff who have a disability or care for someone with a disability, planned a series of events throughout the month.

Events included displays at the Kent Police College and Police Headquarters, #PURPLELIGHTUP where our headquarters and buildings across the UK were lit up with purple light to mark DHM. On 3 December we marked International Day for People with Disabilities and held a series of virtual events across the month to educate officers and staff.

Mental health

One in four people will experience mental health problems in any given year. Individuals who work for the emergency services are at a greater risk of developing mental health problems and as an emergency service our officers and staff interact with members of the public in mental health crisis. For our colleagues our Health and Wellbeing Services have put in place significant resources to assist. Our ‘Healthy You’ hub provides officers and staff with opportunities to participate in regular virtual wellbeing sessions in which the Counselling and Wellbeing team explore the challenges of the role from a psychological wellbeing perspective and provide coping strategies. They also cover support options and signposting and welcome staff input in respect of investigator wellbeing. Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a free benefits service that is provided to all staff. The EAP offers additional professional support and guidance for when things get mentally hard at work or at home. When situations become difficult to manage officers and staff can use the EAP to support them through life challenges that may affect their work performance, mental health and emotional wellbeing. EAP helps build better coping techniques with the help of short-term counselling solutions and lifestyle guides.

Mental Health team

At a strategic level our Mental Health team work to develop new and efficient working practices with a focus on the needs of the patient and the appropriate use of policing resources. At a divisional level the team have senior leader points of contact who are responsible for the development and maintenance of multi-agency working practices locally and for addressing service failures. The team have developed an operational toolkit to ensure the best possible care is provided to the member of the public by the most appropriate agency or voluntary group. Working in partnership with other agencies we are endeavouring to reduce our use of Section 136 of the Mental Health Act. We are providing advice and support within the Force Control Room to our colleagues to ensure that they are fully equipped to instigate earlier interventions with callers who come to us and are in crisis.

Objective 2

We will be an inclusive workplace that is bold, confident and culturally aware so that everyone has a sense of belonging

Diversity and Inclusion Command

Policy reviews continue to be carried out by the command with the focus on our people and the impact these have. In order to share organisational learning, the command has provided training to all departments. The Command has produced a tactical guidance document to assist the process, ensuring all policies are Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) compliant. In October, following a review, the Diversity and Inclusion Command launched the ‘Maternity leave flowchart’ giving line managers and individuals a step-by-step guide at every stage of the maternity process and highlighting the support available. The Command is working with Professional Standards Department and the Ethics Committee to provide support, guidance and scrutiny around grievances, complaints and employment challenges. This work involves reviewing data and concluded investigating officer reports to identify any themes, trends or dis-proportionally. Any identified issues will be utilised for force learning and transparency in decision making.

National Inclusion Week

National Inclusion Week took place from 26 September to 2 October 2022. The week commenced with a force-wide opening and proceeded with a packed diary of events hosted by every division and directorate.

Online discussion sessions, drop-ins and senior leadership ‘open doors’ formed part of the week of activity.

Women's Health Awareness Week

Kent Network of Women co-ordinated our second annual Women’s Health Awareness Week which ran in October, hosted in conjunction with Health Services, Enable, the LGBT+ Network and the Men’s Forum. This week-long event offered daily inputs across a range of topics that impact on our work and personal lives. It built on the success of our inaugural event in 2021, which reached over 800 colleagues across ten sessions: raising awareness, equipping staff with better information, sharing personal journeys and creating wider, stronger networks of support across the force. These sessions were not unique to women. Some inputs looked at issues through an intersectional lens, others provided information and advice to benefit individuals as well as line managers, colleagues, partners and relatives.

Kent Network of Women

The Kent Network of Women have continued to deliver a wide-ranging and wide-reaching service to members and the force during the past two years. Membership now sits at over 1,100 colleagues across officers, staff and volunteers.

The ‘Stronger You’ conference saw over eight forces attending which maximised the networks built during the pandemic across both the Eastern and South-East regions. Continuing to focus on one of their key objectives – maximising potential – the network supported over 90 police staff by providing a development opportunity aimed at building confidence, recognising personal worth and enhancing their position in the workplace. These individuals were identified by their line manager as part of the inaugural police staff succession planning process which was an excellent and evidence-based platform for effective development.

With regards to policy evolution, the Fertility Support subgroup (FSG) worked with HR professionals and the workforce to ensure that existing policy was adapted to better support any individual going through a fertility journey. The FSG has also expanded to incorporate the Endometriosis Support Group and is working with Endometriosis UK to become an ‘Endo-friendly’ employer. The long-standing Circle of Parents subgroup which has been in existence for over ten years and has now expanded into a blended delivery group as well as engaging the Men’s Forum and LGBT+ Network to enhance the inclusivity of the group. There has been the development of a new virtual platform support group with regards to migraine support, which is one of the main reasons for short-term sickness and retirements from duty.

Culture and Diversity Inclusion Boards

The force Diversity and Inclusion Board progresses strategic business in relation to diversity and inclusion matters for Kent Police. The board is chaired by the deputy chief officer and brings together senior members of Kent Police, supported by its Independent Police Advisory Group (IPAG), to support the delivery of a first-class service to diverse communities, enhancing victim satisfaction and preventing critical incidents. The board also assists in the development of best practice, training and policy in support of the protected characteristics of staff. Our force culture board gives officers and staff opportunity to discuss what attitudes and behaviours impact our collective. The culture board is everyone’s opportunity to challenge, discuss, reflect and learn in order to continue to drive a culture that builds a collective ethos of support, putting victims and witness at the heart of everything we do.

To signify the importance of diversity and inclusion all departments and directorates hold Culture or Diversity and Inclusion Boards individually or combined. These boards are attended by all ranks and grades and promote a sense of inclusivity, promote diversity of thought and a sense of belonging for all our workforce. The CT Borders Culture Board included a discussion on flexible working and the impact on individuals and teams. This has resulted in a review of all flexible working to ensure that no one team is disadvantaged. If beneficial, existing staff and those arriving in new posts will be balanced across teams to provide operational effectiveness and team resilience. Serious Crime Directorate has joint Diversity and Inclusion and Culture Strategic Boards, recognising that inclusion and culture go hand in hand with needing to succeed to deliver sustainable change. The joint Strategic Diversity and Inclusion and Culture Board meets quarterly, despite the board’s name the representatives from every team in the Command are constable or police staff equivalent to ensure that the staff have an active say in the culture being set within the Command. In East Division monthly Culture, Diversity and Inclusion Boards are held at divisional and district levels. There have been several guest speakers representing different protected characteristics. Specific inputs have been presented around race, religion, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage and pregnancy. A flavour of those inputs includes a personal story from a young person who had been taken into police protection when younger and the lasting impression this had on her life, but how she is now a police cadet and helping others. She spoke about how she remembers being hungry and the police officer getting some crisps from her own packed lunch and giving them to her. The cadet team were later able to reunite the cadet with this officer which was an emotional moment and the inspiration for the cadet becoming part of the police family.

PICO Dyslexia assessments

Each person with dyslexic tendencies will experience the condition in a way that is unique to them and as such, each will have their own set of abilities or challenges. Kent Police recognised this and last year chief officers gave approval for in-house assessment for dyslexia using the PICO system. This does not diagnose dyslexia but gives indications where workplace adjustments can be put into place quickly and efficiently. The PICO assessment has been used to assess all new police officer recruits. The force is now able to extend this assessment for all officers and staff who may consider that they may be dyslexic. There are 14 officers and staff around the county trained in this assessment process.

Officers and staff assaulted on duty

The Assaults of Emergency Workers Act provides appropriate legislation which must be used to ensure we hold offenders to account for their actions. It is right that we not only ensure the welfare of our staff but also ensure we have fit and deployable officers and staff to provide policing services to our public. In line with our Diversity & Inclusion Strategy we will provide welfare to our officers and staff which is inclusive and ensure our staff have a sense of belonging.

We have an established ‘Nine Point Plan’ in place to provide enhanced support for all officers and members of staff who are assaulted or a victim of a hate crime or hate incident.

The process ensures a consistent approach across the force and to provide a holistic view, allowing themes and trends to be identified to ensure the best level of support is provided and learning opportunities are not missed. There is specific focus on the support provided for repeat victims including options for review of role and mental health support.

Kent Police Agile Community (KPAC)

KPAC were formed because of the Zenith program. We recognised that we needed to provide extra support to those members of staff and officers who are working from home and those who work agilely using open zones. It is essential that our people feel empowered, engaged, and supported by the force – no matter where they are working from. 

KPAC’s role is to act as a ‘voice’ for our agile workforce. They provide a support network and policy framework for all staff and officers who work remotely or adopt agile working to ensure a consistent and fair approach for everyone within Kent Police. Work is ongoing to understand the mental health, inclusion and wellbeing of all staff working from home and ensure that they do not feel isolated or lonely.

Men's Forum

The Men’s Forum launched on 20 August 2021 with great support understanding there was a need to discuss issues that disproportionately affect men, show men they are not alone and promote understanding of men’s issues across all genders.

Twelve online sessions have been held this year including mental health, depression, physical health, prostate cancer, maintaining healthy relationships and managing stress in the workplace. Each session was unscripted where everyone could contribute to open discussion of issues which often men suffer alone. 'International Men's Day’ is an opportunity to reflect on the role of men in our lives such as fathers, brothers, husbands, friends and colleagues. Kent Police marked the day and used the opportunity to promote the Men’s Forum.

Armed Forces Network (AFN)

The AFN was started to support and advocate the Armed Forces Covenant, support staff who are veterans and/or reservists and support veterans and their families within the community.

2022 saw the network achieve the Armed Forces Covenant Gold Award (one of 11 forces nationally), have a significant increase in membership and host two CPD events for members and military partners.

Diversity and Inclusion Single Points of Contact (SPOCs)

SPOCs offer advice, support and guidance to all Kent Police officers and staff. They promote a diverse and inclusive workplace, enhancing existing relationships and creating new ones between the police service and the diverse communities within Kent. They act as a conduit between internal policing departments, the Diversity & Inclusion Academy, and facilitate information sharing. This creates a consistent message and enhances the reach of the Diversity & Inclusion Academy team both within policing and out into the community.

Christian Police Association (CPA)

Founded in 1883 by Catherine Gurney, OBE, the Christian Police Association now has branches in the majority of police areas in the United Kingdom as well as maintaining links with similar groups overseas through the International Christian Police Fellowship.

The CPA encourage and support Christians in the police service as well as building bridges between the Christian community and the police in Kent.

Enable

Enable aim to promote awareness and support staff with disabilities, diverse abilities and caring commitments, with a focus on mental health and neurodivergence.

Enable have ambassadors in teams and departments across the force and over 400 members.

They have been instrumental in co-ordinating Disability History Month, World Suicide Prevention Day, Carer Confident Employer status and National Carers Week activity.

LGBT+ Network

The Network was formed in 2000 and moved from a covert group to one of visibility which demonstrates confidence and authenticity in Kent Police. The network co-ordinates LGBT+ History Month and hosted their annual conference ‘Be Authentic, Be Outstanding, Achieve’.

The network undertakes one-to-one support for LGBT+ officers/staff and organised attendance at the counties Pride events which include recruitment and community engagement opportunities.

Race Equality Network (REN)

The REN is a support group that provides guidance, support, and advice to Kent Police and its staff in areas relating to race and ethnic diversity. They work to ensure a visible presence and a voice for ethnic minority individuals across the force. REN co-ordinated activity for Black History Month and REN endeavours to provide the means for development and growth within the workplace. This includes lateral development and career progression.

This year REN members attended The National Women of Colour in Policing Conference. The group acts as a focal point for discussions, leadership, and direction in improving the position of all women of colour in policing, whether an officer, staff member or volunteer.

Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD)

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on 27 January each year. It’s a time for everyone to pause to remember the millions of people who have been murdered or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition during the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. On HMD we can honour the survivors of these regimes and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of their experience to inform our lives today.

27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp. The theme for HMD 2022 was ‘One Day’. Led by the Diversity & Inclusion Academy, the force hosted a virtual commemoration event on 27 January including an opening by our deputy chief officer, speakers from force staff networks and two guest speakers, a local Rabbi and an historian who spoke about ‘The Kitchener Camp’ at Sandwich. The staff networks have been key participants due to genocides affecting so many diverse groups directly.

International Women's Day

International Women’s Day (IWD) is recognised every year thorough a series of different events, both internally within Kent but amongst other forces too. IWD is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women which has existed for well over a century. The first IWD gathering was held in 1,911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland.

The Kent Network of Women and the Men’s Forum worked together during March to ensure all officers and staff had the opportunity to recognise and celebrate the achievements of women and to support the call for gender parity. This year we asked staff to be aware of and discuss the impact bias has on women's equality - both conscious and unconscious, so officers and staff can recognise it and #BreakTheBias.

World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD)

WSPD is an annual global awareness day, with organisations and communities, from around the world, coming together to continue the conversation and highlight that we all have a role to play in preventing suicide. 

Objective 3

We will take positive action where appropriate to support everyone's career development

Positive Action

The force’s commitment to Positive Action forms a key component within the People and Learning Strategy 2021-25, in terms of its work to identify, attract, develop, support, and retain its people.

The force’s Positive Action activity supports key areas of the workforce life-cycle namely:

• attraction, recruitment, and selection
• progression
• retention
• engagement

Attraction and recruitment

The Positive Action team and HR Collaboration, known as the Outreach Task Force (OTF) has been active since 8 November 2021. The aim of the OTF is to develop and deliver Positive Action and other activities that aim to attract and increase police officer applications from under-represented groups, with a specific focus on ethnic minority and female applications.

August month of outreach action

The forces recruitment team and van was deployed daily to engage with communities and deliver marketing materials in high foot-fall and diverse locations in Kent, Southeast London and the M25 corridor. In addition, six Pride events were attended, and a virtual recruitment event hosted by the chief constable took place.

Ethnic Minority Positive Action Engagement Programme (PAEP)

The programme launched in April 2022 and was designed to attract ethnic minority individuals who were thinking of applying but not ready too, and ethnic minority individuals who have been rejected from the recruitment process but remain eligible to re-apply. The programme offers one-to-one support, guidance, signposting and access to a senior interview and fitness test workshops prior to application.

Positive Action activity is not limited to the Positive Action team and activity is undertaken across commands for example all Serious Crime Directorate policies were reviewed in the last 12 months and have been revised in consultation with the Positive Action team and our staff networks across both forces. Specific focus has been given to role adverts, job descriptions and role profiles to ensure they are inclusive to all. In Victim Justice Command data was used to assess the command profile then using the results to support International Women’s Day, as the command has a high representation of female members and senior leaders. The senior leadership team hold development interviews with members on their teams from under-represented groups to understand what more we do to support career aspirations.

Succession planning

Succession planning is a process designed to help define talent and ensure individuals are developed in a proactive way in the best interests of the force. The process identifies individuals into appropriate ‘matrix’ criteria:

The succession planning framework effectively helps managers to identify internal talent and how best to support and develop officers and staff, prepare them for promotion and/or provide lateral support in line with career preferences. Officers in the ‘Ready Now (for promotion)’ category will be invited to apply for the next Promotion Board. Diversity, equality and inclusion is built within the process to maintain focus. The succession planning framework is also used to identify ‘high potential’ talent to ensure development for future senior leadership roles and the identification of talent pools to enable planning for future promotions processes.

To promote inclusivity and fairness the HR People Development continue to work jointly with the Positive Action team and Learning and Development to focus on the importance of the career conversations and how to encourage and support all staff whilst ensuring correct application of the grading.

Safe to Say

‘Safe to Say’ is a National Police Chief’s Council programme we are supporting. All officers and staff are asked to record their personal information on our HR systems including, disability, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation.

Understanding the make-up and background of the work force enables the force to make better decisions about what staff support services to offer, what policies to put in place to make policing a more attractive place to work and how to focus recruitment to best reflect our communities.

Mentoring

The Positive Action team undertook a review of the forces Mentoring Scheme in May 2022 to identify opportunities to attract more diverse mentors, and mentees taking part in the scheme. As a result, the Positive Action team made several recommendations, these included the introduction of a monthly mentoring meeting to enable key stakeholder collaboration to support continuous improvement, the development and delivery of a new process to ensure effective and efficient administration of the scheme, enhanced CPD for mentors and a communication strategy to attract new mentors, and mentees in terms of volume, and diversity.

All Together Better

In August 2022 the Positive Action team launched All Together Better (ATB). ATB is a Home Office uplift campaign that aims to raise the profile and importance of Positive Action within police forces.

The Diversity and Inclusion Command has worked with Human Resources to design and implement the ‘thinking of leaving the organisation’ process which enables our workforce to complete an online form should they be thinking of leaving. This then affords a further opportunity for line managers and positive action to make appropriate interventions.

Race Equality Week (REW)

REW is an annual UK-wide movement uniting thousands of organisations and individuals in activity to address the barriers to race equality in the workplace.

Race Equality Week was launched by Race Equality Matters to turn words into meaningful action; a movement spurred on by the events of 2020, which have heightened the country’s collective consciousness of the racism, inequality and injustice experienced by ethnic minority communities.

The 2022 theme of #ActionNotJustWords reflected ongoing findings and feedback from ethnic minority people. To promote discussion in this area and identify tangible solutions senior leaders were asked to add racial equality to all meeting agendas for the week to encourage discussion in relation to racial inequality within their area of business and/or work environment.

Stephen Lawrence Day

To mark Stephen Lawrence Day this year, the force and the Race Equality Network (REN) invited all officers and staff to wear something orange. The theme was ‘a legacy for change’.

Following the Race Equality Week in February 2022 several actions were created from across the force. The actions were made into an action plan and launched on Stephen Lawrence Day as a demonstration of our commitment to a legacy for change.

Objective 4

We will develop our own culture of continual professional development in relation to diversity and inclusion

Diversity and Inclusion conference

The anniversary of the launch of the Diversity and Inclusion Command in 2021 was marked this year with the annual conference outlining progress so far.

This year’s ‘discovery’ theme aimed to encourage everyone to explore more about diversity and inclusion. The conference also highlighted tackling ‘Violence Against Women and Girls’ (VAWG) and current work being done nationally and in Kent.

Speakers included National Police Chief’s Council VAWG Lead: Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, Kent’s ACC Tracey Harman, Chief Executive of Kent Fire and Rescue Service: Ann Millington, Emma Collings-Barnes who represented Great Britain in 5,000m open water Swimming and The Grand: Gifted Young Generation (GYG), a Gravesham based service helping young people.

Deputy Chief Officer Ian Drysdale said: ‘Over the past year as a command, we have achieved significant momentum across the force in driving forward the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, which focuses on our people, our communities, and our culture. The vision for the force is to embed diversity and inclusion into everyday thinking and behaviour so that it becomes second nature.’ Attendees were from across all ranks and grades within the organisation.

Diversity and Inclusion Command

Force-wide ‘Inspire you’ diversity and inclusion training ran in June and July where we trained 1,053 people. A training package has been designed and a programme of delivery for diversity and inclusion for those that are in acting ranks. This bridges the gap between promotional courses, Inspire you and other CPD. As part of forthcoming intersectionality training the command has worked with officers and staff from all protected characteristics, social, economic, and educational influences, to produce lived experience video’s that will help support and guide our workforce.

A diversity and inclusion introductory training package is now in place and delivered to all new officers since August led by the Diversity and Inclusion Academy, this includes: an outline of the Academy, our strategy and the Academy command structure, provide some real workplace examples and an overview of positive action. The training package also explains the role of staff support associations and the support that is available. Bespoke training packages have been developed by the academy and delivered to a number of various departments.

The Crime Academy were provided with a training package, and they have adapted their training products, particularly on the use of language around forensic capture and skin colour. Citizens in Policing were provided with a basic diversity and inclusion introduction package, which covered staff support groups, and was delivered to police volunteers across different roles. West Kent CID requested training and tactical advice around the use of language regarding gender identity, particularly on transgender people.

A comprehensive one-to-one guidance document has been created to support line managers and front-line supervisors in their supporting staff around reasonable adjustments and workplace diversity and inclusion culture. The document is now embedded into mandatory new sergeants training.

A training toolkit has been developed by the Diversity and Inclusion Academy and shared with all divisions and directorates, to assist them in developing and promoting diversity and inclusion discussions through training and breakout sessions. This toolkit provides a platform for generating discussions and learning around diversity and inclusion, with the facility to feedback into the Academy for force-wide learning.

Neurodiversity

In April training provider ‘Creased Puddles’ held a training event ‘An introduction to managing Neurodiversity in specialist police investigations’. The session provided delegates with an introduction to neurodiversity and neurodivergent conditions. It demonstrated the impact that neurodiversity can have in a policing context and provided attendees with the tools and confidence to investigate with integrity.

Gypsy Roma Traveller (GRT) History Month

The GRT flag was flown at force headquarters to mark Gypsy Roma Traveller History month in June.

It is important that we raise the GRT flag in recognition of the community and encourage officers and staff to take the opportunity to learn more about the community throughout the month.

Hate Crime Awareness Week

National Hate Crime Awareness Week is a week of action to encourage local authorities, key partners and communities to tackle hate crime. There has never been a more crucial time for us to all work together to tackle hate crime.

All forms of hate crime are unacceptable in any circumstances and Kent Police will respond robustly to any incidents. Hatred not only has the potential to cause serious physical and emotional harm, but it can also damage communities and cause division.

A series of events took place throughout the county including community presentations about hate crime reporting, training for officers and staff, round table discussions and lived experiences of hate crime.

Menopause Awareness

All officers and staff in supervisor and management roles, up to and including chief superintendent and PSE equivalents, had to complete new menopause awareness training.

The training provides all managers and supervisors with an understanding of the menopause and addresses knowledge gaps around the subject.

LGBT+ History Month

February is LGBT+ History Month. The idea originated from School’s Out, a campaigning organisation of LGBT+ people involved in education who wanted greater recognition of the role of LGBT+ individuals in shaping our history. The Kent Police LGBT+ Network hosted a conference on 1 February to mark the start of LGBT+ History Month. The theme of 'Be Authentic – Be Outstanding – Achieve’ was presented by keynote speaker Ben Hunte. Ben is a successful journalist, the BBC's first LGBT+ Matters correspondent, top placed on the Pride Power List and is now a senior correspondent for Vice News. The event was opened by the chief constable and closed by the deputy chief officer. The LGBT+ Network displayed 12 key LGBT+ people who have made a difference to the community worldwide and represent the amazing diversity within the LGBT+ community across history. In Kent Police we celebrate the fact that the LGBT+ community intersects with all our diverse communities.

Black History Month

October was Black History Month, a time for celebrating achievement and supporting opportunities and accessibility for all communities.

Kent Police reaffirmed a commitment to diversity and being representative of the communities across the county. Black History Month allows us all to gain a broader understanding of Black history, going beyond racism and slavery to also spotlight Black achievement.

It helps us all to see that Black history is also British history. Not only is it important to remember the achievements of Black people, but it’s important to recognise the things that make us both unique and alike and to celebrate diversity. Twenty-three events were run throughout the month including Hate Crime awareness, Positive Action, Stephen Lawrence and a discussion around what Black History Month means to individuals.

Objective 5

We will work with all Kent Communities, partners and stakeholders to provide an accessible and inclusive first-class service that meets their needs

Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG)

A series of VAWG engagement events led by chief officers helped shape the force’s new Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls has been a force priority for a number of years, but following the sentencing of a serving Metropolitan police officer for the murder of Sarah Everard, confidence in policing nationally was undermined.

The Walk and Talk Campaign continues to thrive throughout the county which involves the PVP Command, Partnerships Command and Local Policing. It is an opportunity to engage with women and girls from our communities and to provide the necessary reassurance.

Friday 25 November 2022 was White Ribbon Day, part of a global campaign to end Violence Against Women and Girls. The day also marks the beginning of 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence. To support this campaign the Crime Academy and PVP Command put together a series of events, videos and resources for officers and staff.

The domestic abuse community meeting, led by the PVP Command, discusses a variety of topics such as increasing reporting amongst harder to reach communities and violence against women and girls.

We conducted a Walk and Talk in Sheerness and have a further one planned for Faversham providing the community with an opportunity to discuss some of the high-profile cases and educate officers in the VAWG strategy.

In Medway we co-ordinated the first divisional community all out day, to take place in Kent. The strategy was for the senior leadership team and front-line officers to spend time with the varied and diverse communities across Medway to build trust and confidence in policing and enhance our understanding of how our communities felt. Utilising an extensive network of contacts, through the community liaison officer we identified the diverse communities where it was felt our attendance would have the greatest impact on building trust and confidence. We spent time with people at numerous religious establishments, discussing and addressing concerns relating to the use of stop and search and VAWG. The day was very positive with exceptional feedback being received from all those we engaged with. Our front-line officers had a greater understanding of the impact their actions can have on community confidence.

The Kent Network of Women (KNOW) was integral in the development of the force VAWG strategy, particularly the internal culture work-stream. As a result of this focus KNOW participated in a working group to develop a ‘sexism in the workplace’ video to highlight the current situation and provide advice, signposting and support to colleagues to tackle sexist words, actions and behaviours at work.

Race Action Plan

The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) Race Action Plan has been consulted on and a final iteration is due in March 2023. The current published plan is the first iteration and has been widely consulted on. As part of this consultation and being cognisant of the NPCC ‘Five steps for forces framework’, Kent Police engagement has been extensive and varied. Encompassing members of the public, internal workforce and external organisations using a variety of methods including face-to-face, electronic dissemination, and virtual events. A total of 85 public engagements have taken place with a further electronic dissemination of a smart survey externally which has potentially reached over 20,000 people living or working in Kent Police area, the data being owned and analysed by NPCC. Additionally, we have captured feedback through our engagement sessions and encouraged participants to complete the survey.

The NPCC Black workforce internal survey, conducted in June 2022, resulted in a 24% completion rate. Whilst we are awaiting the final iteration of the plan the Command has developed a delivery plan and is in the process of reviewing our current Diversity and Inclusion strategy and Diversity and Inclusion tactical delivery plan to incorporate the Race Action Plan into our work.

Op Sandpiper

Kent Major crime recently won team of the year at the National detective’s conference for their work on Op Sandpiper and a large part of that recognition was linked to the welfare put in place for their staff during this particularly distressing investigation and unique pressures. The learning from this has been shared nationally, not just within our force.

Asylum and Immigration

Asylum and immigration is a high-profile subject within the county and Dover is a focus of far right activity and comment. Community liaison officers (CLOs) have been intrinsic in supporting the settlement of asylum seekers and displaced families from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan. Working with community contacts, concerns have been addressed from diverse communities. Napier Barracks, Dover Immigration and Manston reception centre have all received intervention from CLOs to address concerns from asylum seekers and immigrants. Staff have attended the virtual Ukraine Partnership Tasking Co-ordination Group to identify cross organisational concerns. CLOs supported and attended the initialisation of district Ukraine Support Hubs visiting weekly. This activity has resulted in CLOs undertaking scores of joint visits, with social services, to Ukrainian families settling in Kent. A UK guide to law has been translated into Ukrainian and Russian and is provided to all families along with verbal guidance on UK culture, expectations, hate crime and victim support. CLOs also deliver presentations on law and expectations, using interpreters, to unaccompanied asylum-seekers.

Force Control Room

The Wellbeing team were deployed into the control room to work with staff taking calls to assist in managing trauma exposure and provided drop-in sessions for staff. Working with the Deaf community and the Diversity and Inclusion Academy the Force Control Room have improved our communications technology to assist with accessing our services, in addition to enhancing our online and self-serve services.

Training and education has been provided to call handlers around supporting public contacts into the control room, and specifically victims who may state they have, or are identified to potentially having neurodiversity needs. The team has also introduced three new accessibility spaces to help those who are not eligible for disabled parking however need these spaces due to short term needs for example pregnancy and short-term medical needs.

Open Day

Blue skies and sunshine proved a perfect backdrop to mark the tenth anniversary year of the Kent Police Open Day weekend. Guests were able to listen and learn from police officers, staff, partners and volunteers across a wide variety of stands and exhibits showcasing the force’s work to keep the county safe and bring offenders to justice.

There were 4,631 visitors on the staff day Saturday 2 July: 7,058 on the public day Sunday 3 July and 3,000 pupils and 500 teachers and staff on the school’s day Monday 4 July. The overall event has grown from strength to strength since the first Open Day in 2012, which was a public day at Kent Police College. The event was independently assessed to ensure we were fully accessible, and teams were briefed to ensure everyone attending had equal access to the attractions. Diversity and Inclusion Command marquee saw a host of activities for young people all with a diversity, equality and inclusion theme.

Community Liaison Team

The core function of the community liaison officer (CLO) role is to proactively seek out new communities and to develop, maintain and improve positive relationships between Kent Police and its communities.

The CLOs engage with a significant number of groups and individuals from all protected characteristics across Kent. The function also allows specialist tactical advice to officers and staff in relation to customs, cultures and diverse communities. CLOs are also key to identifying and managing community tensions and providing reassurance where appropriate. This is achieved through specialised community knowledge and use of local contacts to ensure that Kent Police take a measured and understanding approach to dealing with sensitive issues.

Amongst the work undertaken by all the CLO team was the Gravesham CLO attending the youth hate crime event in Gravesend. It was an event targeted at young people aged 11 to 18 years who reside in Gravesham. The event launched a campaign in Gravesham that young people have been working on called Report It! which encourages and educates young people on how to report any hate crimes experienced. The Ashford CLO attended Ashford Interfaith Group Annual Walk starting at St Mary's Church in the Town Centre and making its way via various religious establishments to the Ashford Mosque. The Thanet CLO along with Ukrainian families, agencies and local people celebrated Ukrainian Independence Day with a picnic in Ramsgate. It was a great opportunity for agencies and outside partners to work together on issues that our local Ukrainian guests are facing. CLOs maintain relationships with the community contacts on a routine basis and is an embedded practice. For community events CLOs are utilising our social media feeds to promote their work.

In support of the national uplift, CLO’s have been trained as Recruitment Ambassadors and continue to identify and support opportunities to deliver attraction recruitment activities. During the August month of action CLO’s disseminated recruitment marketing to 104 community contacts and identified community members to share marketing with their networks. CLO also identified and signposted community events that would provide recruitment outreach opportunities.

During Hate Crime Awareness week CLOs delivered 25 hate crime specific community engagements to raise awareness and promote reporting. In October CLOs supported and attended 23 Black History Month events, promoting recruitment, providing generic and gold theft specific crime prevention advice.

Kent DEI Partners Network

The DEI Kent Equalities Network is working well with 29 members from organisations across Kent including Kent County Council, Medway Council, Christchurch College, University of Kent, NHS, Kent Fire and Rescue Service and many more. There is now an agreement in place to deliver key joint activities, sharing learning expertise and knowledge. The intention is for all of the staff support associations to be linked in with our partners staff networks to give greater support and enhance networks.

Independent Police Advisory Group (IPAG)

Community liaison officers (CLOs) are intrinsic to IPAG. All districts are supported by CLOS to undertake their quarterly meetings and CLO meet regularly with each district Chair. Following the recruitment process all Chairs, apart from Thanet are in post. Utilising the Kent Police website, we are utilising the ‘volunteer vacancies’ tile to recruit IPAG members and have recruited new members.

The Diversity and Inclusion Academy have been working with the county Chair to review activity of all district IPAGs to ensure the community members are given ample opportunity to speak, raise concerns or bring topics for discussion. Scrutiny is key to Kent Police to fulfil our General Equality Duty of eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act. The primary role of an Independent Police Advisory Group (IPAG) is to act as a ‘critical friend’ to Kent Police. IPAGs were created to challenge conventional thinking, to give an independent perspective on issues and to work as genuine partners with Kent Police to inform improvements in service delivery.

The role of IPAG members is not to provide ‘specialist advice’ on policing issues. Rather, they are designed to provide advice on how policing services may be, or are being, perceived by, or impact on communities. IPAG members are not independent scrutinisers, as this function is carried out via existing established mechanisms. IPAGs are not the voice of the community, instead a collection of individual community voices. IPAGs form one part of Kent Police’s wide community consultation engagement. As critical friends, IPAG members constructively advise and challenge Kent Police on their policies, procedures and practices and advise the force on how to enhance these key areas, so that policing performance is improved whilst trust and confidence is maintained.

Hate Crime

Several hate crime training events have been written bespoke to audience this year. Additionally bespoke events have been delivered as part of National Inclusion Week, NHS staff and Black History Month. As part of National Hate Crime Awareness Week, sessions were written and delivered, in addition to all the activities, events held across the county. Each event included a Hate Crime Champion, Crown Prosecution Service, Victim Support Scheme and a CLO where available. The training encouraged professional curiosity around identifying other vulnerabilities, early safeguarding referrals, learning from adverse outcomes and good work examples.

The strategic hate crime lead worked with the CPS hate crime lead, is creating a term of reference and a panel which reviews hate crime with no further action marked against them. The panel includes IPAG, key individuals from Kent Police, and the CPS. All learning and good work is shared and fed back organisationally, which will enhance our performance, and service delivery, putting victims first. This is essential in terms of legitimacy and instilling community trust and confidence in the wider criminal justice system.

The first hateful extremism conference took place that was organised between Kent Police and Kent County Council Prevent team as we have jointly interlinked work around hate crime with the work around prevent violent extremism and linking in with the CONTEST agenda.

International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBiT)

Kent Police and the Kent Police LGBT+ Network voiced its support for the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBiT) on 17 May 2022.The day represents an historic 32 years since the decision to remove homosexuality from the World Health Organisation’s list of diseases and related health problems. Although times have changed since 1990, IDAHOBiT is all about raising the awareness of the LGBT+ community in over 160 countries and recognising that there are still challenges we face and there is work to be done.

No2Hate Awards

Kent Police officers and staff attended the No2H8 Crime Awards in November. Established in 2016 as the National Hate Crime Awards, this annual awards ceremony is designed to recognise upstanding individuals who have contributed toward the betterment of different communities within the UK, through the tackling of hatred and prejudices.

Our very own PC Eliza Halley was nominated for her outstanding work, and North Kent's Northfleet Youth Club won for their ongoing community and youth engagement.

Custody

Distraction boxes are included in each custody suite, which can be provided to detainees to support individual needs. Faith and religion boxes are available in each suite and arrows indicating Mecca are painted in each cell for prayer. Alternative food is provided or made available to suit dietary requirements and female hygiene items are offered. Chalkboards are being scoped to support those with neurodiverse needs. The use of Language line and interpreters is adhered to under PACE however translation devices have been purchased and placed into each of the custody suites to assist staff in communications with detainees for their basic needs whilst in custody and who do not speak English whilst they are in the suite. Reading material and footballs are provided to aid anxiety and neurodivergence. Children are monitored and scrutinised as a priority to ensure they spend as little time as possible in the suites. There is a wheelchair in every suite and staff know where the accessible cells are and whether to offer to move a detainee to suit their physical ability needs.

Pride events

Pride is a celebration and a promotion of equality, respect and understanding, to which every person can participate in. Kent Police have continued to support the counties Pride events in 2022.

There were Pride celebrations across the county and working with our LGBT+ Network and the Community Liaison team we were able to attend the events in Canterbury, Dover, Tonbridge, Folkestone, Margate, Faversham, Gravesham and Medway.

All these events were well attended by the community and significant positive engagement took place. Attendance and participation at Pride is important to us as it demonstrates we will support the LGBT+ community, that LGBT+ officers and staff are welcomed, encouraged and supported, and we encourage reporting of hate crime to ensure all our communities are safe.

Scrutiny and transparency

The commissioning of Stop and Search videos utilising a number of volunteers has enabled us to visually show Stop and Search with community contacts and as part of community engagement. On East division a shorter edit of the video was shared with IPAG and community contacts prior to a Section 60 search notice and on conclusion to monitor community impact. The videos have contributed to community trust and confidence in policing powers and educating how these are essential in the prevention and detection of crime. There are sound bites and clips around unconscious bias, checking officer authenticity, how to provide compliments, complaints, feedback and take part in county Stop and Search scrutiny.

The Diversity and Inclusion Academy has supported the Policing Powers Oversight Board (PPOB) and the external scrutiny conducted by the Independent Review Group (IRP), helping shape the platform for external scrutiny and providing context behind the data to disproportionality. The academy also provide support in the review and dip checking of body work video to identify themes and trends for learning and best practice.

Working with Professional Standards the Diversity and Inclusion Command are examining any issues of disproportionality within investigations of complaints to ensure that there is parity across all protected characteristics when complaints are made and investigated.

Ethics and Fairness Committee

Chaired by the deputy chief constable the Ethics and Fairness Committee has been running for several years. The Ethics and Fairness Committee exists to discuss ethical issues raised by staff. This could involve raising an issue for discussion where an officer or staff members believe the force is doing something that does not seem ethically right.

It provided officers and staff of all ranks and grades to submit topics for discussion or raise matters that they may consider unfair. All questions and the responses are published on our intranet site to ensure transparency and that all have the opportunity to read, and interact with the committee. Some of the matters discussed include:

• police officer tattoos
• is police support ethical for the testing of illegal drugs at music festivals?
• nepotism and cronyism in the promotion process/selection process/internal recruitment
• the disparity of discipline sanctions between officers and staff and the unfairness of the Bradford Score when used for selection purposes

Force Inspectorate

The deputy chief constable (DCC) has responsibility for the force inspectorate who conduct a programme of internal inspections that focus on policy compliance, areas of risk and working practices. This offers the force a means of providing independent assessment in key areas ensuring impartial and unbiased findings.

When formulating terms of reference engagement with the Diversity and Inclusion Academy takes place and form part of the research undertaken prior to inspection activity.

In January 2022 the force inspectorate undertook an inspection of counter corruption and vetting along with the force’s understanding of improper behaviour based on gender. This inspection looked to review the force’s approach to counter corruption and the workforce’s culture towards improper behaviour based on gender. The inspection included individual interviews as well as gender specific focus groups. As well as being briefed to chief officers the findings of the inspection were fed into the Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy to inform the culture pillar and ensure the voice of the was captured.

Other inspections undertaken have included mental health detentions, domestic abuse risk assessments, investigation quality, use of victim care cards, custody provision, child protection and most recently local policing. Inspection officers will give due consideration to the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2021 to 2024 in respect of engagement, awareness, understanding and embracing, empowering and trust and confidence and if required will raise any issues or themes identified.