Firstly, what is Police Now? For readers that might not have heard of it. 

Police Now is a charity that aims to transform the community and improve confidence in the Police. Since 2015, they have partnered with over 30 police forces and recruited 2,000 graduates into their programmes. Their focus is on creating an inclusive and diversity-friendly environment within both the Police and the community.

You are talking to PolSoc Paper as a representative Police Now, but what exactly is your role within the organisation?

I am a University of Sheffield Brand ambassador for Police Now. I help raise awareness among university students about the organisation, and its role as a way to join the Police Force. 

I only joined recently in September, and I am loving it so far!

How is Police Now different from normal Police recruitment routes and training?

Police Now training ultimately hopes to train more inclusive and diverse officers to work with communities. Just like the Police, Police Now aims to reduce crime and increase public trust in the police.  

Where Police Now differs is that it aims to foster more diverse and inclusive police forces with officers from different backgrounds and with different life experiences. The training programme itself offers more support for trainees than standard police training, and the organisation tries to encourage the personal development of recruits, and help them overcome challenges and prejudices they may encounter.

What is the main focus of the organisation? 

The organisation hopes to create a new and better understanding of police forces.

There are so many stereotypes or beliefs about the police, where people may view the police as the enemy of the people, or of certain people in society. Thereby, resulting in some people taking law and order into their own hands. 

This is the issue that Police Now is trying to address, and they aim to do so by creating public trust in the police. One example of how they are doing this is through the programs they are running, which focus on Neighbourhood policing. By getting trainee police officers to work together with the community, there is a hope that both can work towards a common goal of safety and social cohesion.

Could you expand a little bit on the issues within the Police Service that you mentioned in the last question? What is wrong with the police?

Arguably, there are a lot of systemic problems that can be identified with the police force. An example can be seen in certain cities in the UK, where there are a lot of issues with the police, especially with stop and search where certain groups of people are being targeted because of the way they dress, and how they look or behave. It can be said that the Police have an unconscious bias against certain people, and this creates a lot of problems when combined with public mistrust in the police.

Police dispersing groups of young people is another example of police failure, and misuse of police power. There is a lack of understanding and empathy within the Police Service, the police consider the ‘crime’ over the context and the person. This reflects an issue with current police training. Media portrays police as incompetent and wasting public money, but really, what the police lack is an understanding of communities and their activities.

The police is institutionally prejudiced and judges people, communities and activities without understanding them. Institutional mistrust is generally bad. This is made worse by the stark lack of diversity within the police.

There are worryingly low numbers of police officers from ethnic minorities, who in 2022 comprised only 8.1% of the Police Service, and representation is even worse in senior positions. The police do not reflect the diversity of the population of the UK, and this underrepresentation seriously harms public trust in the police. Overall, I would say it has a very destabilising effect in society. 

How would you say that these issues within the Police Service are relevant to wider politics? Why is it important for Police Now to address this?

When it comes to issues in society such as crime, the police are the first point of contact. If the police are ineffective and institutionally prejudiced, people start to question government institutions and authorities altogether. This also makes people question how effective the government is in training the police force, and if they really do care about the crimes that are happening in society. 

If the issues with the Police Service are so extensive, can the Police be reformed and continue their role in implementing law and order?

I think that it is better to have a police force, because communities cannot be left to police themselves as a result of a total breakdown of trust with the Police. That is why the work of Police Now is so important, because the issues of lack of diversity and institutional prejudice need to be addressed if the Police are to fulfill their duty of care for the community.