The Police Service is committed in providing a service that is fair to all members of its communities and in ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and respect.
The need for good community relations is fundamental to good effective policing.
We recognise that within all communities there are those individuals who are law abiding and those who will be actively involved in criminal activity or engaged in anti-social behaviour. It will be for you to assess each situation and determine the appropriate response to each individual.
This guide aims to increase staff awareness, so that the highest quality of service can be offered, with heightened sensitivity and perception.
It has been designed, not only to develop knowledge, understanding and empathy towards the local ethnic minorities and other diverse groups who reside, work or visit our communities, but also to provide you with some practical assistance, within the context of operational policing.
It is not a definitive guide, but it does offer an introductory insight into the varying lifestyles, cultures, customs and religious backgrounds of some of our communities.
The Police Service has a statutory duty to:
- eliminate unlawful racial discrimination
- promote equality of opportunity
- promote good relations between persons of different racial groups.
These duties must be behind our actions at all times and they cannot be developed if we lack cultural awareness. This guide is intended to help develop this understanding.
The Police Service will ensure that the service provided to our communities does not discriminate intentionally or unintentionally on the basis of gender, age, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, religious belief, sexual orientation or marital status.
The individual standard for anti-discriminatory is that each member of the service:
- avoids the use of discriminatory words or behaviour
- treats all colleagues and members of the public appropriately, fairly and without discrimination
- actively identifies and challenges discriminatory words and behaviour within the police service
- actively identifies and challenges Service practices, policies or procedure which disadvantages minority groups
- actively uses police powers to combat discrimination within the community, and in doing all this recognises that:
- the fact that discrimination may be unintended does not make it less harmful in its effect; and
- the way to treat people fairly and without discrimination is not to treat everyone as the same, but to recognise and respect diversity in order to determine appropriate need.