Insights - Conclusions and Considerations

The engagement and insights have highlighted key areas of focus to continue to build on the progress made to date as follows:
Be aware of how we lead. Leaders facilitate culture, values and behaviours. We must lead by example, challenge behaviours and empower teams. Colleagues need to feel safe to call out behaviours and feel supported when they do. Leadership must be inclusive, visible and accountable across the service to inspire positive change.
Cultivate visible change to ensure that a zero tolerance approach to sexism and misogyny is the reality. This plays an essential part in fostering confidence in colleagues that if they raise an issue, this will be addressed in appropriate and supportive ways.
Support leaders to lead change together through meaningful colleague engagement, reflective practice and being courageous.
Deliver education and training that focuses on lived experience from real situations and on the wrongdoings of perpetrators as the problem. Colleagues felt that a Moodle training package would minimise the importance of the key issues.
Provide safe spaces for reporting and for colleagues to provide ways to feedback and raise concerns anonymously.
Consider an informal mediation process that could involve coaching or training. Colleagues felt this would be beneficial for resolving issues without raising formal grievances.
Consider means of measuring our values and behaviours and how consistently these are applied across the service. Understand how things are changing, how things are getting better, and what we still need to work on. Allowing challenge and accountability, shared learning and recognition of good practice.
Continue the conversation around sexism and misogyny. Colleagues are aware of the change that is required and many want visible and meaningful engagement to continue.

The Strategic Leadership Board considered a final insights report on 7 March 2023 and committed to the next steps that are set out in the final paragraphs of this report. The insights were shared with all colleagues by DCC Graham via a message to all staff, short film and update on the Policing Together site.

This engagement with officers and staff is just one part of an ongoing Policing Together programme to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in the service and to better represent communities across Scotland. This has included the service committing to, supporting and hosting the Women in Policing Conference. The conference successfully provided an opportunity to consider a range of perspectives adding value to the wider ongoing programme of work in the service.

Going forwards, oversight and monitoring of progress will form part of the wider progress reporting approach for the Policing Together Programme.