By Trustees Emily Johnstone and Liz Potter
Following a review of our membership benefits, BWV are committed to providing at least two member-only events each year. These will seek to provide access to power and decision-makers, in a women-only setting where members can have their questions answered.
The Q&A session with three senior members of Avon and Somerset police, held on Thursday 8 December at Docklands Community Centre, St Pauls, was the first of these sessions, organised following content suggestions from our members.
The event was structured as a panel session, chaired by our Co-Chair Carole Johnson. Presentations from police speakers were followed by questions from the floor. Participants joined both face-to-face (a women-only space) and online. It proved to be an interesting evening, with much positive and constructive feedback from which we will learn and use to develop future sessions. We’ll shortly be adding links to the presentations at the bottom of this blog.
Bristol’s first female Chief Constable
First up, Bristol local, Sarah Crew, spoke about her journey to becoming Avon and Somerset’s first female Chief Constable. She described her desire to stand up for the underdog as the main motivation in her career and explained that her goal is for Avon and Somerset to become the most inclusive police force in the UK. Sarah explained her view that the role of the police is to help communities create safe conditions for living. She emphasised the need for officers to be morally, as well as physically courageous, and for the force to learn from its mistakes to maintain trust, in line with their core values: Caring, Courageous, Inclusive and Learning.
Next, we heard from Anjalee Joglekar, the Improvement and Assurance Officer for Domestic Abuse. Anjalee is a police staff member, not a uniformed officer, and works closely with Chief Inspector Sharon Baker. Sharon is a survivor of domestic violence herself and has spoken out about her experiences to try to encourage others to come forward. ‘Domestic abuse and controlling, coercive behaviour is the invisible harm that is all around us, it can happen to anyone, no matter your age, your gender, your job, or even your rank.’
Click to view Anjalee’s presentation
It was refreshing to hear about Avon and Somerset Police moving towards a perpetrator-focused approach, with the launch of the Drive Project in South Gloucestershire, aimed at working with high-risk perpetrators to prevent abusive behaviour. We need to stop asking “Why doesn’t she leave?” the police said, and start asking “Why doesn’t he stop?”. This is something women’s organisations have been calling for, for decades, and some audience members were frustrated that the barriers to approaching the police – police culture being high on the list – were not addressed more in the discussion.
Anjalee recognised the need to deal with police perpetrators of domestic abuse and spoke candidly about developing a policy to support staff experiencing domestic abuse, through compassionate leave and an internal survivor network.
Operation Bluestone and the importance of training staff
Finally, we heard from Detective Superintendent Ed Yaxley, Senior Responsible Officer for Operation Bluestone, who joined us online and was standing in for Lorett Spierenburg who had last minute childcare challenges – which we recognise, of course, as a key issue for most mothers in Bristol!
Operation Bluestone was a research program led by academics to analyse the police approach to investigating Rape and Serious Sexual Offences. The resulting recommendations are being put into practice both locally and nationally to try and improve the force’s response to rape, resulting in an increase in adult rape charge rate: from 3% to over 10%, a vital improvement and a strong indicator of just how far the police still have to go, as recognised.
The key suggestions include focusing on investigating the suspect and improving victim engagement, as well as improved training and support for officers. Ed recognised the importance of training staff in particular and noted that, ‘What you say [to survivors] has an amplified impact because of your officer status’.
Click to view Ed’s presentation
Questions from the floor
Presentations were followed by questions from the floor that covered police training, focus on perpetrators, police data and recent incidents. The issues covered were wide-ranging and a couple of members bravely shared their own very personal testimonies. An opportunity was created for these to be discussed with Sarah and Anjalee at the end of the session, and a key learning for us was that we need to make more, and appropriate, space for this kind of direct communication about survivors’ experiences.
Sadly, the time we had available for questions was limited and we did not get to cover all the thoughts and experiences that members wanted to share. Questions that we didn’t have time for were sent through in writing, and Chief Constable Sarah Crew has responded below.
Next steps
We know how much members value opportunities like these to have meetings with decision-makers and other bodies. There is much work to be done to change police culture, especially in relation to Black and minoritised women. As Chief Constable Crew recognised, sadly it is not just the case of a few bad apples, but a large-scale shift in culture that is required. There is evident commitment to this agenda and we hope to put on a repeat session with the police in 2023, in a format that responds to the learning form this first event, to hear about progress and to again connect the police to women’s experiences and feelings.
As an organisation that is committed to learning and improvement, Bristol Women’s Voice would like to run future sessions in a way that allows more space and time for sharing lived experiences and views from the floor. We recognise the need to give power to our members and amplify women’s voices at these kinds of events. We also see the need to run sessions in a way that makes the space feel respectful and safe for members, speakers, all women and all views.
If you attended the event and haven’t left feedback already, then we would welcome further suggestions. Please send your comments to Katy: director@bristolwomensvoice.org.uk
In sisterhood and solidarity – the BWV staff and trustee team
Written responses to outstanding questions, provided by Chief Constable Sarah Crew:
Can you say more about what the training for police officers contains?
I cannot recall the context here. This may have been a reference to the ‘Inclusive Policing with Confidence’ programme. This took place over 2022 reaching 3000 plus front-line staff. Consisting of seminars and workshops the programme involves small groups of officers and staff learning about the lived experience of those who are different by way of protected characteristic or lifestyle and/ or who have traditionally difficult or limited relationships with the police. The Lived experience input has been provided by a consortium of local providers with expertise in the various areas and coordinated by SARI.
I’m concerned about victim blaming, for example rape victim’s confidential counsellor notes being demanded as evidence, and gaslighting of victims when they report a crime. How is this being dealt with in order to support victims?
This is being dealt with by a new Code of Practice and associated training which reinforces the legal guidance and emphasises concepts such as ‘relevance’, ‘reasonable line of enquiry’, ‘necessity’ and ‘proportionality’. This supports and is reinforced by the work of Operation Soteria Bluestone (of which Avon and Somerset Police is the pathfinder force), particularly Pillar 3 – ‘taking a procedural justice approach to victim engagement’.
I would like to find out how you intend to tackle crimes when the police is institutionally and systemically racist and corrupt. Why there are so many officers with gross misconduct still in the police force?
I am committed to delivering outstanding policing for everyone. This requires rebuilding confidence among women and girls, black people and indeed any people with lower levels of confidence in us. This requires the police to be effective in carrying out our core role for everyone (responding well to emergencies, cutting crime, protecting the vulnerable from criminals, bringing offenders to justice and ensuring those who do use our services have high levels of satisfaction in them) and for individual officers and staff to inspire confidence through their conduct and behaviour. When officers and staff fall short, there are clear and robust processes for identifying the conduct, investigating it and addressing it.
On occasion, the conduct is such that the Police Misconduct is engaged. Where the conduct of an officer is assessed at Gross Misconduct, a public hearing takes place. In a limited number of circumstances, the Chief Constable preside over the hearing. I have dismissed or determined that dismissal appropriate in every case over which I have presided.
Because of a change in legislation several years ago, most panels are chaired by an Independent Legally Qualified Chair appointed by the Police and Crime Commissioner. These panels have on occasion, used Final Written Warning as a sanction. Where this happens, the only recourse for the Chief Constable is a Judicial Review if certain thresholds are engaged. This route has been taken in recent years on a case involving discriminatory language. The Judicial Review agreed with the Panel and the officer remains in the force.
On occasion, behaviour can arise from a lack of understanding, a deficient of cultural intelligence or lack of knowledge or skill. The right response here will be recognition of the deficit, critical reflection, and training/ learning. Providing coaching, mentoring, and having difficult conversations is a core requirement I have of all my leaders.
