Cultural change programme focusing on fairness

• For employees of Devon and Cornwall Police to drive a cultural shift.
• Fair treatment for all.
• A zero-tolerance approach to all discriminatory practice.
• To develop a culture where equality, diversity and inclusion are not treated as a target to be hit but rather an ambition to be met.

To score improvements over time for the following measures.

Psychological safety

The psychological safety of Devon & Cornwall Police employees (using the following Federation Survey dimensions).

• Job satisfaction.
• Supervisor relations.
• Feeling valued.
• Wellbeing.
• Doing a good job.

Policies and processes

The application of policies and processes through existing organisational data sets.

• Treatment by Devon and Cornwall Police (public interaction survey).
• Complaints data
• Grievances.
• Officer and staff turnover.
• Officer and staff sentiment.

Treatment of communities 

Treatment of communities with protected characteristics using the following data points.

• Disproportionality data (stop and search, use of force, compliant handcuffing).
• Disparity in treatment (victimisation rate, use of victim needs assessment).
• Disparity in data (use of caution and community resolution, arrest outcomes and no further action (NFA) rates, recorded ethnicity rates).
• Community trust (community survey).

While population figures for people from ethnic minority backgrounds are low, their treatment by the police service indicates there is discrimination with regard to stop and search, use of force and treatment as suspects. Research has indicated that ethnic minority populations are more likely to become victims of crime and three times more likely ‘not to report’ their ordeal to the police.

A cultural audit began in Devon and Cornwall Police with the ultimate aim of creating a police service that believes in fairness for all. The project was delivered alongside a culture change organisation called Senseia. The project included:

1. desk-based research
2. interviews and focus groups
3. analysis

1. Desk-based research

This phase mapped the current context that Devon and Cornwall Police operate in, using desk-based research to gather data and evidence. This phase of work included a meta-analysis of all available data on discriminatory behaviour of the police. The desk based research resulted in a comprehensive review (the synthesis of multiple data sources) and the identification of recurring themes.

2. Interviews and focus groups

More than 350 volunteers were interviewed. The interviews were unscripted with a single prompt question used to anchor the narrative – ‘What gets in the way of you doing your job or enjoying your job?'. This allowed people to share their lived experience.

Interviews were also conducted with key external community and partnership stakeholders.

Two additional focus groups were held with several sergeants and inspectors. Overall, more than 400 individuals were consulted during this stage, providing a representative sample of the organisation’s staff and officers. The output from the interviews and focus groups provided a rich data set of narratives, anecdotes and stories. These were coded to identify repetitive themes that exist across the entire organisation. These themes were identified as the narratives that inform cultural and behavioural norms within Devon and Cornwall Police.

3. Analysis

The cultural narratives of Devon and Cornwall Police were benchmarked against national and international analysis to understand local nuances of risks and opportunities for the organisation. With this final layer of insight, the narratives were analysed through the lens of both neuroscience and psycho-educational tools to understand systemic patterns of behaviour.

The cultural audit found that a lack of psychological safety within Devon and Cornwall Police was leading to the:

• inconsistent applications of policies and procedures within the organisation (internal discrimination)
• inconsistent treatment of communities with protected characteristics (external discrimination)

As the cultural audit helped to draw out the nuances that exist in Devon and Cornwall, it was used as a key element in designing an inclusive leadership programme.

Inclusive leadership programme

Following a pilot in March 2022, an inclusive leadership programme was rolled out to all senior leaders (chief inspector and above, plus staff equivalents). In January 2023, this programme was extended to all staff at sergeant and inspector ranks and police staff equivalents.

Participants attend two consecutive days and the third day a few weeks later.

The intended outcome is to seek improvements in key performance indicators (KPIs) at three levels:

• individual
• organisational
• community

This phase of the programme ends on 2 April 2024.

The first playback on findings from the audit was delivered to the chief officers in February 2022. This was followed by a number of additional playbacks to other senior leaders and internal and external stakeholders, including staff and officers.

An evaluation led by academics is ongoing. The evaluation is a comparison of measures before, after and during implementation.

KPIs for this project are being measured at an individual, organisational and community level. All KPIs will be measured as the project continues to roll out over the next 12 months. This is based on a clear commitment from Devon and Cornwall Police to revise the project if significant improvements across all KPIs are not sustained.

Individual KPIs

The following statistics illustrate the improvement in psychological safety between focus group participants compared with the baseline figures for the organisation. The percentages shown are the average across all responses taken post intervention, three months post-intervention and six months post-intervention. The following statistics represent percentage increases.

Role satisfaction

• 17% improvement in job satisfaction.
• 32% reduction in ‘nothing to be gained in staying in my job’.

Supervisor relationship

• 17% improvement in supervisor open to your ideas.
• 14% improvement in ability to open up.
• 13% improvement in acceptance of who you are.
• 9% increase in feeling cared about.

Feeling valued

• 17% improvement in feeling valued by supervisor.
• 56% improvement in feeling valued by force.
• 44% improvement in feeling valued by public.

Wellbeing

• 44% improvement in feeling the force cares about my wellbeing.
• 46% improvement in feeling the force cares about my opinions.

Self-reflection

• 22% improvement in feeling free to be who I am.
• 16% improvement in feeling competent.
• 54% decline in feeling inadequate.
• 27% improvement in feeling able to voice my opinion.

Organisational KPIs

The following statistics are drawn from individual responses from focus group participants (average across post-intervention, three months post-intervention and six months post-intervention). They relate to the intervention’s impact on organisational wellbeing, resilience and sustainability.

• 54% reduction in ‘not liking my job’.
• 17% reduction in ‘wanting to quit my job’.

Anecdotal impact

The overall programme is perceived to be a success within Devon and Cornwall Police staff and officers. It has created a heightened sense of awareness among participants and their role in developing the ambition of our culture and their own place in it. It has begun to drive different conversations with a higher level of emotional intelligence. It has also started a series of local interventions at a basic command unit (BCU) level, using the playback of the audit to challenge dynamics of teams at that level.

• The force feels the impact of the programme is stronger for senior leaders verses sergeants, inspectors and staff equivalent.
• The force has responses from only two cohorts of sergeants, inspectors and staff equivalent at the moment, so will need to monitor this.
• The force needs to continue to monitor KPIs and understand how it is impacting the organisational KPIs and the community KPIs.
• The success of the programme lies in the skill of the facilitators who take participants on a journey.
• Facilitators may be met with some initial resistance and need to be able to work participants through that to a meaningful acceptance.
• A key element for the force was the support of the executive in both commissioning the work and then acting on the findings and the investment required.