Force's Equality, Diversity and Human Rights information published
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WEST Midlands Police today (Tuesday 31 January) publishes its Equality, Diversity and Human Rights (EDHR) information, which details the data our communities told us they would like to know.
The force has a legal requirement to make this information available to the public and at the end of last year carried out a consultation to ensure the information which was included reflected what people wanted to know.
The report, which can be found on the website, www.west-midlands.police.uk, sets out the force's duties under the Equality Act 2010, how we engage with protected groups and how we work to tackle hate crime and support victims.
The force has completely reviewed its processes to deal effectively with all types of hate crime and hate incidents, to encourage reporting and improve successful prosecutions or resolutions.
Information is also included about how the force tackles domestic violence and forced marriage, how many specialist officers the force has to deal with vulnerable victims and the diversity and equality training provided to give officers and staff the right skills to carry out their duties effectively.
As requested through the consultation, the information also contains an explanation of the police's powers to Stop and Search, a breakdown by demographic of everyone stopped and searched and the purpose of the search. The force is committed to working with our communities to tackle any perceived disproportionality in the use of these powers and is in the process of developing community panels to share with them when and why we use them, and the outcomes.
The document also includes a breakdown of the officers and staff employed by the force and the family-friendly policies offered such as special leave, family leave and flexible working.
The EDHR strategy identifies the actions the force is taking to improve equality across all the protected characteristics, while the delivery plan shows how and when improvements will be made. This is supported by a wide range of activity at all levels across the organisation, from corporate initiatives to innovative local projects.
Assistant Chief Constable Sharon Rowe said: "It is an ongoing priority for West Midlands Police to improve the working environment and service delivery for all by eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations between people.
"To set out how we will achieve this, we have recently introduced our EDHR strategy, which is about identifying the priorities and addressing the different needs of our staff and the communities we serve.
"As we are accountable to our communities, the information we have published demonstrates our decision-making and the equality data which underpins those decisions to open us up to informed public scrutiny.
"To ensure we gave people the information they wanted to hold us to account for our performance on equality, we consulted them and their views were wholly taken into account in shaping the information we have published.
"This has enabled us to pinpoint the areas of most relevance to equality and human rights and is critical to giving our communities confidence in our ability to listen, learn and strive to improve to meet their needs."
The equality information can be found on the website, www.west-midlands.police.uk/help-advice/equality-scheme/index.asp.
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