Equality and Diversity

Suffolk is a diverse and dynamic county and we want our workforce to reflect the wide range of people living and working in the county.

We know that we are under-represented in many areas of our workforce, with less people than we would like from minority ethnic groups, lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender people, people with certain faiths and beliefs, and disabled people working with us. Women are also particularly under-represented in our uniformed roles (such specials, police community support officers and police officers).

We have a huge variety of great and rewarding careers to offer, and everyone with the right skills and attributes should have an opportunity to join us.

An equal opportunity employer

We truly believe in giving everyone an equal chance to work at Suffolk Police, and we will keenly encourage people from diverse backgrounds to join us.

As an equal opportunities employer we take part in the following initiatives:

‘two ticks’ positive about disabled people Job Centre Plus scheme, including guaranteed interviews for disabled people who meet the essential criteria for a role
mindful employer being positive about mental health
‘think, act, report’ promoting gender equality in the workplace.

Volunteering

As well as having a huge variety of interesting employed roles, we also have a great team of volunteers supporting us. Our volunteers can be either specials , or police support volunteers . These are great opportunities to develop skills and experience, as well as contributing to keeping our county safe. Again, we want and need to improve the diversity of our volunteers.

The Equality Act

As well as being morally right, the law also allows us to try new ways to encourage people from under-represented groups to join, progress and stay with us. This is called positive action.

Positive action is in place to try to balance the effects of historic discrimination, and can be used where there is an under-representation. If for example 60% of women were employed in senior positions, we might not have a legal justification to put into place actions to encourage women into those top jobs.

Some people get confused between positive action and positive discrimination. Positive discrimination is about treating people from one particular group more favourably than another; it is not lawful and we don’t do this. Everyone working for us must meet the same high standards and people are appointed on their level of competence and ability to do the job.

Staff support

We support several staff networks which are organised and run by our staff. They provide a confidential and supportive environment where people might share common issues and experiences.

As well as providing support for staff outside of the usual management structure, staff groups also provide a key service to us, as critical friends and to provide strategic input into our workforce and operational strategies.

Current support networks

Suffolk Association of Women in Policing (SAWP)
Suffolk Ethnic Police Association (SEPA)
The Norfolk and Suffolk LGBT + Police Network
Disability and Carers Network – DCN
Suffolk Christian Police Association (SCPA)

Personal development and progression

Once you have joined us, as either police staff or as an officer, we are committed to helping you to do the best job you can, and to give you the right opportunities to pursue your career with us.

We know that there are even less people from under-represented groups in more senior roles, and in certain teams. We will encourage people to aspire to want the best and there are different schemes that can help people to progress, such as shadowing, mentoring and coaching and personal development plans.

Diversity monitoring

We ask for information about people’s diverse characteristics from the application stage, and throughout employment. The purpose of collecting this information is so that we make sure that our policies and practices are being fair, and to help us to understand who our workforce is.

As well as collecting statistics, we also ask people about their experiences. This could include a questionnaire about whether you felt you were treated fairly during the recruitment process, or training, and to check that you still feel that way two years later. We don’t ask people to give us their names unless they want to, but we do guarantee that we will listen to what we are told, act on it and learn from it.

Recruitment events and job vacancies

As part of our recruitment campaigns, we often hold open events in partnership with community groups and will update our website and partners about when and where these are.

We will also send information about our vacancies to a wide range of community groups, for them to display and share. You can view our current vacancies here

Contact us

If you are interested in working for us, please feel free to contact us:

Police Officer enquiries

[email protected] or 01953 425699 ext 2334

Police Staff enquiries

[email protected] or 01953 425699 ext 2333

Further information on equality and diversity

You can find out more about our approach to diversity and the strategies we have in place on our diversity pages.