Increasing diversity within Bristol’s police force

“The police should reflect society,” says Temba Mahari, one of a specialist cohort of outreach workers recruited by Avon and Somerset Police to increase engagement with underrepresented groups within the force. “It’s important that people feel like the police are part of the community.”

Nine outreach staff have been employed by the force to make the police more inclusive and diverse, working both internally and externally to make policing a more accessible and attractive career for more people.

Paul Walker and Temba Mahari are two of the outreach workers, encouraging people from minority backgrounds to join the police force and challenging the police’s internal culture and structure.

“Externally, we with work black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and all under engaged groups, including LGBTQ+, working class, women, disabled and neurodiverse people, and people with mental health problems,” says Paul. “If they say ‘I can’t do it’, we’re the ones that ask ‘why?’.”

Paul Walker has connections with LGBTQ+, Afro-Caribbean and disabled communities. Photo: Avon and Somerset Police

With the conversations taking place at the moment around race, diversity and disproportionality, Paul and Temba are hoping to recruit more police staff by helping the local community feel engaged with the force.

They engage with the local community, normally through events, open evenings and career fairs. During the pandemic, they have been helping out weekly at the Food Hub Consortium Project at the Malcolm X Centre and holding online workshops.

But what about those who are actively anti-police? “I haven’t come up as much of that as I expected,” says Paul. “We find that people are still willing to listen. People are inquisitive.”

As well as working with Bristol’s communities, Temba and Paul also work to change and challenge to culture and structure of Avon and Somerset Police.

“We’ve got a way to go,” admits Temba, who believes power comes from diversity. “But we’re making progress. It’s a historical service and uniformed services can often be stuck in their ways. Since we started this role in September 2019, I think we’ve made massive strides.”

Since Temba and Paul started in their roles, Avon and Somerset Police have recruited their first non-binary officer, using PCX instead of PCW, for women, or PCM, for men.

Conversations have been started around the interview process, which has gone online during lockdown: This can be anxiety-inducing for some, and dyslexic people may struggle to read the subtitles that appear on screen.

Temba Mahari hopes his role can “have an impact for future generations and can change the culture that BAME people have with the police”. Photo: Avon and Somerset Police

Temba also says there is “no use in being emotional”, calling for education instead. By speaking and having open conversations with police staff, the outreach workers can answer questions in a safe space, signpost to resources and suggest support groups to join.

Staff officer and soon-to-be neighbourhood inspector for Bristol East, Gurdeepak Kenth, agrees, saying: “I think we’re really increasing cultural awareness.

“When there’s something we need to know, we go back to those communities affected. We’re making less and less decisions without consulting the communities that will be affected. We’re going back to those people who are the eyes and ears.”

Gurdeepak, who is one of the most senior officers in Avon and Somerset Police from a BAME background, believes that the Covid-19 pandemic has been a “key junction” for the community and police and hopes this will be reflected in an increasingly diverse workforce.

He adds that none of the outreach workers wear uniforms. “They’re part of the community, they speak from experience, they build trust,” he says. “They’re engaging with people in a different way.”

Avon and Somerset Police have been praised for not intervening when the Colston statue was pulled down.Photo: Phil Riley

So far, the work of the outreach staff has been improving diversity of BAME people within the police force – but it is still significantly unrepresentative in comparison to the city’s population.

Avon and Somerset Police have seen a 22.6 per cent increase in BAME recruits since 2018. 3.3 per cent of current staff are BAME, in comparison to 2.7 per cent in 2018.

However, the force still significantly underrepresents Bristol’s population. The Avon and Somerset area, which includes Bath, Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Somerset, has a BAME population of around six per cent, almost double the percentage of BAME police staff.

As of April 2020, there are 93 police officers – five inspectors, 13 sergeants and 75 constables – 20 PCSOs, 86 police staff and 19 special constables from an ethnic minority background, a total of 218 BAME staff out of a total 6,268 staff members within Avon and Somerset’s force.

Main photo: Lowie Trevena

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