Gender Equality in UK Policing: Sussex Police Delivers its 2nd Annual HeForShe Report

Sussex police delivered their 2nd Annual HeForShe Report – Gender Equality in UK Policing on the 7th of December 2020. This report brings together nationally reported data displaying the gender split at senior ranks within police services and shares best practices across police forces in the UK. The report is vital to holding police forces to account for the HeForShe commitments every force in the country has made. The National Police Chief Council Strategic Lead for Diversity, Ethics and Integrity and HeForShe Champion for UK Policing Chief Constable Carl Foulkes has used the report to contact Chief Constables within every police force across the UK, highlighting where they stand concerning the public commitments they have made.

Last year a development programme aimed at women police officers and staff was designed to support women who lack confidence but have the talent to progress. There are now more women police officers in UK policing than ever before, resulting from increasingly high numbers of new recruits. The key emerging issue is a significant drop in the proportion of women at the first level of leadership, and this programme was designed to address that issue. Sussex Police seek to utilise and reciprocally work with HeForShe partners on an element of this programme to give their staff experience of other sectors and offer insight into our partners' policing environment.

Sussex Police continues to adapt their approaches to flow with the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic while acknowledging that now more than ever, the work of HeForShe in Policing is vital to support the communities they serve as well as their own teams and staff.

Read the full report here.