There are people that try and tell me that the police service
is now dominated by political correctness and that minority groups and women
are prioritised over white men. This is
just not true. People who say this are
reacting to the attempts to level the playing field. Sometimes these attempts don’t quite work,
sometimes there are unintended consequences.
Tokenism can arise and occasionally the best efforts backfire. These are the inevitable consequences of
trying to right wrongs. These mistakes are
small things in number and consequence and yet some people like to focus on
them and avoid the real issues of the lingering racism, misogyny and homophobia
that can be found in the service. No
sane person would suggest that the majority of police officers display these
manifestations of misconduct. But where they
still do exist the consequences are huge, painful and long lasting. But what about those outside the
service? Can policing run ahead of
popular culture?
I ask because there are plenty of examples of bad behaviour
in the wider population and this week we saw a dreadful example of this. Last Thursday BTP announced the appointment
of a new Assistant Chief Constable. As
always this was after a strictly controlled open competition overseen by the
Police Authority. The successful
officer, Karen Findley LVO KPM, is a well known and very highly regarded
officer from the Metropolitan Police. The publication of her appointment was
met by an outpouring of unpleasantness on social media. In fact I don’t think that ‘unpleasant’ is an
adequate description. Some of the
comments were absolutely disgusting. The
sort of comments that one might have expected to hear in an old fashioned pub
30+ years ago. This abuse was not
confined to social media. The Daily Mail
website is full of obnoxious comments on the story that for some reason appear
to go unmoderated. There is a near
universal assumption on these pages that her gender was the reason that she was
successful, despite most of the commentators having no idea of who she is and
what she has achieved. This, coupled
with the personal nature of the attacks, makes it impossible for me to comprehend why
people feel entitled to be abusive. There are a few voices on the Mail’s
comments page who seek to put a more reasoned angle on the article but they are
overwhelmed by those who are consumed by an ill defined hate. I do not know ACC Findley. People I know and respect who do know her are
full of praise for her professional abilities and leadership attributes.
How must she feel?
She may be a very experienced police officer and will be used to
encountering rude and abusive people operationally, but she is also a human
being. I would guess that this is not
the first time she has encountered a negative reaction to her rise through the ranks, but of course this only
makes it worse.
Since the modern BTP were pulled together post 1949 all the
Assistant Chief Constables have been men.
Some good, some hopeless, some homegrown and many imported from other
forces. The point is none of those
appointments attracted any interest outside of the small world of
policing. Certainly, none attracted the
sort of vicious virtual attacks that we have seen this week. None of the scores of appointees over the
last 75 years were ever subject to comments about their appearance or crude
references to their perceived sexuality.
Nobody made links betwixt their gender and their competence.
This is contemporary history. This is a moment that future historians of
railway policing will look back on with horror and one that, if there is any
justice in the world, mark as a turning point. There has been a massive outpouring of
professional support and revulsion at the on line hate and perhaps this is a
sign of a new dawn or at least of the point from whereon things get batter. For some white men of a certain
age it has been an eye opener.
All of this made me think about the pioneers of the
past. It is well over a century since
the first women were sworn in as constables in the railway police. How did they manage? How were they treated on a daily basis? Among them were some true leaders (although we know little about them as individuals) but it was
only after the equality legislation of the 1970s that they could they begin to
reach their potential – a process that is not yet complete. What about the first officers who came out as
Gay?, the first black officers?. Some of
their history has been recorded, but not much.
There is a reason that the so called 'history months’ exist. Some readers of the Dail Mail may pretend
they are the product of ‘woke’ but there are real stories to be told. These stories are part of police history. Alas we have a long way to go before we are
all living happily ever after.
The police service can do more than reflect the views and
viewpoints of the society it serves. It
does already. It is a service based on
the concept of integrity, on selflessness and on respect for others as well as respect
for the law. In short the culture of
policing rejects many of the negative aspects of our wider culture. In doing so it demands high standards (even
if it sometimes falls short of that demand).
Policing by example is a model that can be pursued. Well educated and well trained police
officers are quite capable of being moral leaders. This is not a political stance. Being opposed to discrimination, bullying and
abuse is not taking sides. It is just
the right thing to do.
Phil Trendall
Feb 2024
Additional thoughts
Now is a good time to remember some of the pioneers in
(railway) policing. The Great Eastern
and North Eastern railway police were both quick off the mark to recruit and
swear in women during the Great War. I
recently noticed this piece during my Police Review project:
“Additional Women Police Sworn In”
“ Women police constables have been sworn in at York Police
Court. They wear a uniform pf dark blue
serge tunics, skirt, breeches, gaiters, overcoat, cape, belt, special hunting
hat with the NER badge.”
31 May 1918 p 172
“The policewomen of the NER have given such satisfaction
that the strength of the force is to be increased”.
20 Dec 1918 p404
NOTE this photograph is taken from the original magazine but
BTPHG hold copies of contemporary photographs of NER women officers which are
of better quality.
Further After thoughts
I have been accused of jumping on a bandwagon for posting on
this subject, and of straying away from history as subject. I am perhaps guilty of the former and I
acknowledge that there are better informed people who have made more insightful
comments than I have on this subject.
But I do believe that this is a legitimate area for historians so I
refute the latter charge. Discrimination
and bullying are part of police history and police present, it is hard to separate
the two. I do have to reflect though on
my own past. I am part of the generation
where casual sexism, racism and homophobia were part of police culture. Although I was often uncomfortable I rarely
spoke up. I was not much of an
ally. As I went through my service I
kept my head down in the waters of the mainstream. Perhaps I can be a bit more useful as an
external observer, amateur historian and pensioner.
PT 2024
Please note that the views expressed are my own. I do not represent the BTPHG or any other organisation or Society.
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