"85 per cent of my money goes on people because our efficiency is all about people performing at their peak. People perform at their peak when they understand themselves and others.
 

When they recognise and value their own skills and they are confident in them, that opens the door for them to truly recognise and appreciate others who have a different skill set or approach to them.

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Everybody is different, and we should celebrate difference but instead of this, many forces approach diversity as if it's a burden, simply a legal duty, something around which we must tiptoe because that way is safer.

 

The reason why diversity in policing has become synonymous with superficial markers of difference, like ethnicity or sexual preference, is because of the difficulty in measuring less obvious differentiators, such as mindset and personality type. 

 

The great thing about Packtypes is that its accessibility means everyone understands it, rather than just one per cent of your organisation. People know what I mean when I say 'a Guard Dog is more different to a Coach Dog than a woman is to a man, or someone who is straight is to someone who is gay'."

 

"Our organic approach meant that culture change filtered through the organisation naturally from the grassroots, rather than being imposed from on high In fact, this change in the "feel" of the force was specifically noted by HMIC inspectors.

 

It wasn't a regimented, rigid plan or strategy to deliver culture change It was a feeling that this was something that would allow people to recognise how they were different to others and to acknowledge and value these differences.

 

For example, it quickly became apparent that one of the Packtypes - the Pointer, associated with a factual, analytical mindset and problem solving - was not feeling as valued as some of the other Packtypes. Pointers can, in a very powerful Police culture, feel like they're not being listened to and seen by others as a bureaucrat who hits targets, but misses the point We now talk much more about the importance of the analytical approach and a Pointer's natural ability to patiently investigate and research as an excellent contribution.

 

As a result, the constabulary was also named as the only force in the country to be 'outstanding' at investigating offending, by the HMIC.

 

The more that Packtypes pervaded the Durham force, the more that leaders were able to identify trends and accumulate insight into the personality traits best suited to different roles.

 

Historically in policing, it is only leaders and semor management that have been given this kind of psychological profiling support to understand themselves which is why empowering everyone with this knowledge has made such an impact.

 

Diversity initiatives in policing have focused on widening the range of role models and better reflecting the communities that forces serve While these goals are clearly important, genuinely celebrating diversity has a much less talked about but more commercially crucial outcome ... 

...higher performing teams!"

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CC Mike Barton

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Extracts from 'Diversity is more than skin deep' article in Police Oracle , by Suzy Bashford, 2016