Equality and Diversity - Positive Action
ENGAGEMENT & CONSULTATION
Promoting Equality and Human Rights – Everyone's Responsibility
Involving and consulting with our staff and communities about our policies or decisions that may affect them is very important to us; it helps to ensure that we are being fair, working together to advance equality of opportunity and fostering good relations with and between our diverse communities.
Positive Action and a proactive approach to developing existing and new equality initiatives and resources has been the driving force for change within Tayside Police.
Internal Engagement
Some of the cross-cutting forums, partnerships, initiatives and resources that play an important part in the promotion of equality and diversity within the Force include:
The Force Leadership Team: The Chief Constable, or in their absence, the Deputy Chief Constable, chairs the meetings. Members include Force Executive, Divisional Commanders, Staff Associations, Trades Unions, Force Solicitor and Heads of Departments. This committee provides a forum for discussion, and approving policy. It also enables the Chief Constable to discuss employment/staff related issues and service delivery regularly and directly with senior managers so that performance can be monitored.
The Diversity Development Group: This group meets every three months and is made up of experienced officers and staff from Divisions and Departments, Trades Unions and Staff Associations. The group examines and reviews, on an ongoing basis, Tayside Police policies, practices and procedures and all aspects of service delivery in relation to equality and diversity. This helps to proactively promote equality and to work towards the elimination of unlawful and unfair discrimination by or within Tayside Police. The Diversity Development Group is chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable (DCC) who also chairs the Strategic Community Advisory Group. In addition, the DCC is a member of the Force Leadership Team and the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS) Equality and Diversity Business Area.
These internal and external links enable the DCC to bring national issues and ACPOS guidance to the attention of the Tayside Police Executive, members of the Diversity Development Group and the Strategic Community Advisory Group. It also allows relevant community and organisational issues to be raised at Force and national level.
Internal Equality & Diversity Related Resources
Diversity Adviser (External Functions): Responsible for managing equality and diversity issues in relation to all aspects of service provision. This includes providing specialist diversity advice to all staff, the development of appropriate policy and guidance to assist the delivery of a fair and professional service, and the development and review of the Tayside Police’s Equality related objectives and action plans.
Equality and Diversity Adviser (Internal Functions): Responsible for managing equality and diversity issues in relation to all areas of employment. This includes ensuring that Tayside Police makes best use of staff resources by recruiting, retaining, developing and promoting the best people and that all employment policies, procedures and practices are fair, objective and transparent.
Staff Development Manager: Has overall responsibility for diversity training.
Occupational Health Nurse & Staff Support Adviser: provides support and assistance to disabled staff.
Recruitment Team: Responsibilities include positive action and innovative methods of promoting career opportunities within Tayside Police to all sections of the community, particularly those that are under-represented. Also arrange internal staff consultations as and when required.
Community Safety Officers: Based within each of our three divisions, Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross, these officers work closely with the diverse communities in their areas and report back any concerns raised to their management.
Community Safety Development Officer: This member of police staff is responsible for engaging and maintaining links with the various communities of Tayside. They also manage the Appropriate Adults Service.
Harassment Contact Officers: Tayside Police has a duty to look after their staff. Any allegation of harassment is taken seriously and monitored until it is resolved. A Harassment Contact Scheme is in place. Carefully selected members of staff are trained to provide support to colleagues who may be experiencing harassment at work. The Harassment Contact Officers are normally available during office hours. They can be contacted by calling the helpline where a list of contact officers' names and telephone numbers are available. The calling member of staff can then choose who they would like to contact.
Appropriate Adult Tayside Service: This is a partnership between Tayside Police, NHS Tayside, Angus Council, Dundee City Council and Perth and Kinross Council, which seeks to ensure that people who have a mental disorder and are being interviewed by the Police have an Appropriate Adult to facilitate communication between the person being interviewed and the police. The Service has a steering group to overview the strategic matters and a management group which deals with the daily service delivery. Appropriate Adults Tayside publishes an Annual Report which can be downloaded from the Tayside Police website or requested in other forms.
24 hour Access to Interpreter Services: A 24 hour, seven days a week service, face to face and by phone is available to all Tayside Police officers and police staff. This provides access to over 100 community languages to improve communication with people who are not fluent in English. In addition, sign language interpreters and other communication support options are available for those who may require them.
Phone interpreter access is now available within the Force Communication Centre to enable non-English speakers to contact Tayside Police direct.
Text users can call our non-emergency number 0300 111 2222 or any direct dial phone numbers (where known) by adding 18001 in front to communicate with our hearing staff via Type Talk/Text Relay service.
Remote and Third Party Reporting: This system allows members of the public to report crime, including hate crime, indirectly when they feel intimidated or anxious about contacting the police directly. You can report on-line or via a third party reporting partner – for list of reporting sites and on-line option and guidance, please visit www.tayside.police.uk/remotereporting
The service is designed to encourage the reporting of crime and is taken just as seriously and investigated to the same standard as any other crime.
Please remember that Remote Reporting is not suitable for incidents that require an immediate response or urgent contact with the police. In such cases a direct call to the police on the non-emergency phone number 0300 111 2222, or in an emergency 999, is the appropriate action to take.
Victim Support: Victims of crime are referred to Victim Support as a matter of course, unless specifically requested otherwise. This allows victims an opportunity to access appropriate support.
Tayside Police Diversity Awareness Guide: Our Staff Development Unit produced this useful resource. A copy is given to all staff. It contains valuable information about the various communities and faith groups that live and work in Tayside. The guide highlights the importance of using appropriate language and being respectful to others at all times. A list of useful contacts is included within the guide to enable staff to seek further advice.
Disability Tip Cards: These 'Tip Cards' (or advice cards) were produced in 2008 in partnership with Dundee City Council, NHS Tayside and Tayside Fire and Rescue. They have been distributed to every police station, department and public enquiry office and are intended for use by front of house reception and customer care staff delivering services to customers who may be affected by disability or communications barriers. They are also a valuable point of reference for staff to assist interaction and positive relations with colleagues who may have a disability.
They are not meant to be a comprehensive source of information on all disabilities but they may help with some quick pointers to raise awareness and help meet individual needs. At the back of the set there is some useful contacts information that can be used for more advice.
ACPOS Equality and Diversity Strategy: We have adopted the principles outlined in this strategy, which was developed in 2004 and revised in 2009, by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS). This can be accessed on the ACPOS website or requested from us.
Women's Development Forum (Tayside): Chaired by the Equality and Diversity Adviser (HRS), the membership of this staff support group, although mainly women, is also open to male police officers, police staff, staff associations and Trade Unions.
Gay Police Association (GPA) Co-ordinator: Tayside Police supports a member of the Gay Police Association to co-ordinate and raise awareness to staff of the support mechanisms available to members of the GPA.
External Engagement
We use a number of different ways to engage, involve and consult with our diverse communities and staff. Our approach and some of those methods are explained below. However, please be assured that you don’t have to be a member of one of our formal groups to provide feedback to our consultations, or to inform and influence our policies and plans. From time to time relevant consultation documents / policies and requests for advice and suggestions will be published in this section to provide an opportunity for anyone interested in the subjects to respond. We welcome and value all feedback – good and bad. If you take the time to tell us what we are doing well... or not so well, you can help to improve the way we do certain things for good.
Community Advisers
Tayside Police is committed to promoting equality by proactively identifying and eliminating unlawful discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other prohibited conduct; advancing equality of opportunity for all; and fostering good relations with and between different sections of the community.
Key to achieving the above aim is the sustained and well supported involvement of community advisers/critical friends reflecting the diversity of the community served by Tayside Police.
Community advisers provide an opportunity for the Force to consult with, and get feedback on, policies and procedures which may have an impact on them or their communities. This is particularly significant as Community Advisory Groups primarily provide a perspective from minority ethnic or other historically underrepresented / hard to reach or hear people in our society.
For all of the above reasons Tayside Police supports the on-going development of appropriate Community Advisory Groups that provide a focused and meaningful community involvement at force wide strategic level, divisional operational level and critical incident/ tactical level.
We recognise that whilst some people are involved in these groups as individuals, others represent a wide range of support organisations and provide a valuable consultative link between Tayside Police and their membership. Both of these elements serve to provide a broader and more meaningful community perspective.
Current Position
In order to deliver the above commitment, the following Community Advisory Groups have been established:
Strategic Community Advisory Group: This group has a membership of around 30 people from different sections of the community and considers Force-wide strategy and policy issues. Efforts continue to ensure that as far as possible, membership reflects and considers issues related to all ‘protected characteristics’ such as, age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
The Deputy Chief Constable chairs the meetings. This is clear evidence of the Force Executive's support and commitment to equality issues. Other Force representatives include the Equality and Diversity Advisers. The group meets every three months, with the meeting times alternating between afternoon and evening to meet members’ differing needs to allow involvement.
Each time the discussions focus on a particular issue or service area as mutually agreed. This partnership with the community enables valuable consultation and discussion to take place regarding sensitive issues that are likely to affect the diverse communities served by Tayside Police.
Members are active partners in the development and production of Tay Equality, our diversity newsletter.
Divisional Community Advisory Groups: These regional advisory groups have evolved from the original disability advisory groups formed in May 2006 in the three local authority areas of Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross. The groups work with Divisional Commanders to consider local operational and service delivery issues. Membership reflects the diversity of the local communities and includes voluntary & community sector as well as other partners. Meetings take place at least twice a year. The Divisions are responsible for administration and management of these groups.
In our Western Division (Perth & Kinross), the advisory group is a partnership between Tayside Police and Perth and Kinross Council and is known as P&K Community Equality Advisory Group (CEAG). Admin is provided by the Council.
Critical Incident Community Advisers: A list of people happy to be contacted for advice in relation to specific incidents has been produced and available to relevant staff. These advisers can be requested to work with Tayside Police during critical incidents and major investigations/operations to form a non-standing group to provide advice to Senior Investigating Officers or other relevant staff.
These advisers have been chosen from existing Community Advisory Groups and from the wider community. Meetings will be held strictly on needs basis, to be organised by the Division/Department requiring advice.
Community Adviser’s Role and Responsibilities
Your main duties as a Tayside Police Community Adviser are:
- to attend meetings (if member of a group) when possible, listen to proposed policing objectives and initiatives on strategic/local policing matters and comment/challenge and advise where appropriate
- to bring to the Group, views and concerns of your community or membership, or your personal experience and knowledge of issues related to police policy and service delivery that may help to improve quality of service and promote equality of outcomes for all sections of the community served by Tayside Police
- to be involved in the development and review of force policy/strategy and contribute to the Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) process as and when required
Community Adviser’s Personal Specifications
Whether as an individual or representing a body which has significant contact with the relevant community, an adviser should have:
- knowledge/experience of a 'customer' based understanding of public service delivery
- a desire to shape and improve strategic/local policing services
- an ability to work as an independent ‘critical friend’ in a challenging, constructive and respectful manner
- the willingness and ability to devote some time to the issues developed by the Group
- reside or work within Tayside (for Strategic CAG) or the relevant Tayside Police divisional area (for Divisional CAG)
Role of Community Advisers in Equality Impact Assessments
What is an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)?
An Equality Impact Assessment is a way of systematically and thoroughly assessing and consulting on the positive, negative or differential effects that a policy (the term includes all police powers, functions, strategies, guidance, procedures & processes, transitory orders, operations, activities and decisions) may have on people because of their age, disability, sex, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation, pregnancy or maternity and transgender identity. In essence, it is a process of equality proofing that involves the integration of equality objectives into policy planning, implementation, evaluation and review, thereby helping Tayside Police to anticipate different needs and situations.
As such, the EIA process helps to identify who might be affected by a policy, what needs they may have and what must be done in order to ensure that Tayside Police meets its statutory duties in respect of equality and diversity issues. It is effectively a pre-emptive tool, which means that the potential impact on agreed equality objectives is assessed before the final decision on a given policy is taken, and the actual effects monitored after its implementation.
Why conduct an Equality Impact Assessment?
Tayside Police is committed to the provision of a quality service that is fair, accessible and meets the needs of all. As such, if something that Tayside Police does affects people within our communities and /or our staff in any way, we have a responsibility to make sure we know how they are affected, and how that effect may differ because they belong to a particular group in society or have a specific need. More than that, the Force has a statutory duty to actively promote equality.
Equality Impact Assessments are a requirement under the equalities legislation. A fuller explanation of the legislation and the general and specific duties that need to be met, and the arrangements for these can be found in the Force’s various equality schemes which can be accessed on the force website under Equality and Diversity or requested from the Diversity Adviser.
In addition a Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) was established in 2008 and requires public bodies to work actively towards the preservation and promotion of human rights issues related to policy areas that are devolved to Scotland.
Would you like to make a difference?
If you would like to be involved as a Community Adviser in one of our groups, or perhaps would like to offer feedback on issues affecting you, your community or the wider community, without necessarily attending meetings, please contact us using any of the methods set out on the first Equality and Diversity page.
Don’t just complain – help us to make the change!
Other Ways We Engage/Consult – Working Together
Some of the other ways we engage and consult with communities include community outreach events & initiatives; customer surveys; force website & internal intranet; and taking advantage of informal opportunities to speak directly with people from particular communities.
We also work in partnership with local authorities in Angus, Dundee and Perth & Kinross as part of the various Community Planning Partnerships.
If you are organising or involved in a community focused initiative or meeting where you feel Tayside Police attendance or participation may be of mutual benefit, please tell us so that a relevant member of our staff can consider taking part.
