#BehindtheBadge "We need to be representative of the community that we serve"

We had a chat with Vicky Hoppitt, our Equality and Engagement Officer, about her role in the push for greater diversity, equality, and inclusion in Warwickshire Police.

Here’s what’s going on Behind the Badge.

“I’m big on fairness and equality – it’s been embedded in me since childhood.

“My grandma always used to say to me, “You’re as good as anyone else, but no better”.

“She was Irish, and when she first moved to England, she saw a lot of prejudice and racism, and she had been one of the people standing up to it back then.

“I’ve been an Equality and Engagement Officer at Warwickshire Police since August 2025.

“Starting a new job can be overwhelming at first, but now I am a lot more comfortable – I feel a lot more confident in taking ownership and making decisions about what we need to do.

“I have wanted to get into Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) for a long time.

“In a lot of places, DEI is not really taken particularly seriously – it’s a bit of a tick-box situation, it gets shoved into an e-learning thing for staff.

“Here, I feel that it is something that is taken seriously – everyone does want to do everything they can to be fair and trustworthy, to do more.

“I grew up in Northampton, in a very diverse environment.

“I never thought too much about it, I had friends from all different ethnicities growing up, and it wasn’t until I was older and spent time elsewhere that I noticed a lot of casual racism that really shocked me.

“It didn’t shock me that it happened – it shocked me that people were so overt about it.

“My main focus has been working with the DEI PCSOs, whose aims are building positive long-term relationships with diverse and seldom-heard communities.

“I’ve also been working hard to diversify our Community Scrutiny Panels – while our Community Scrutiny Panels already include a range of voices, we will always benefit from more.

“We’ve recently recruited university students into the panel, which was a positive step in the right direction.

“These panels give members of the public a chance to give observations and feedback about individual interactions with the police. 

“A lot of people don’t know about these panels - I’d certainly never heard of them before joining the role, and I’d have wanted to join one if I had, so a lot of this is about getting the word out about them.

“I think they’re so valuable, we need to hear from people outside of the police to be transparent, to get that feedback.

“What keeps me focussed in my role is my genuine passion about people – I believe that people’s voices should be heard, and they shouldn’t be treated unfairly.

“I do really care about people having trust with the police. A lot of people, they don’t trust the police – for whatever reason, often based on one unfortunate bad interaction out of a thousand that take place.  

“We need the public to participate so we can do our jobs to the best of our abilities, we need to be representative of the community that we serve.

“The opportunity is there for the public to come and engage with us – the Community Scrutiny Panels are a great example.”

If you’re interested in joining a Community Scrutiny Panel, there’s some information on our website, including an application form.

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See more #BehindTheBadge here: https://www.warwickshire.police.uk/police-forces/warwickshire-police/areas/warwickshire-police/campaigns/campaigns/2024/behind-the-badge/