Warwickshire Police

As a Force we have clearly articulated our commitment to diversity and our aim to ensure: “no person will be treated less favourably on grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin, disability, gender, marital or parental status, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, proposed or actual gender re-assignment, economic group, employment status, politics, staff association or trade union membership, or any other condition which cannot be shown to be wholly justified in relation to employment with Warwickshire Police or in delivering services to the community” in all that we do.

I am committed to ensuring that diversity is a key strand in the delivery of our citizen focused approach to effective and efficient policing services for the different people in Warwickshire.

We also recognise the need to ensure our workforce reflects the diverse make up of our communities, so that we can better serve the wide ranging needs of the people of Warwickshire and so ensure we gain their trust and confidence. I welcome the implementation of this Racial Equality Scheme as a key part of our commitment to making our diversity strategy a reality. By integrating this Scheme into our policing activities and putting racial equality at the top of our agenda we will grasp the opportunity to ensure our services meet the needs of people from all racial backgrounds both those we serve and our own staff.

To this end I will make sure that we put in place appropriate structures and processes, appropriate policies and effective consultation and communication arrangements to meet our commitment to our community and the duties outlined in the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.

We are keen to listen to feedback so that we can identify how we can best meet the diverse needs of the community and act accordingly. To assist in this we will establish Independent Advisory Groups so we can develop this key area of consultation and community involvement.

All aspects of the Scheme will be regularly reviewed to ensure continued applicability. The outcome of all reviews will be made publicly available.

We are committed to working in partnership with key agencies and members of the community to ensure the delivery of our vision “Protecting our communities together” for all our community and this Race Equality Scheme will assist in our relationships.

We will publish our second revision of our Race Equality Scheme, covering the period 2008 to 2011 by 31st May 2008.

Keith Bristow,
Chief Constable