Equality, diversity & human rights

Hampshire Police Authority’s vision for equality, diversity & human rights

Hampshire Police Authority’s vision for equality, diversity and human rights is that every person and every employee who receives, or is affected by the Authority’s activities and services should perceive their experience to be fair and equitable.

The Authority expects all people of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, whether a resident, visitor or someone who works in the two counties, to be treated fairly and with dignity, free from harassment, bullying, victimisation or discrimination. The Authority wishes to be open and transparent in the way in which the Authority functions and the ways in which its policies, roles and responsibilities are delivered.

In short, the promotion and maintenance of equality, diversity and human rights shall be at the heart of all the Authority’s work.

About the Authority

Hampshire Police Authority is an independent organisation that is responsible for overseeing the work of Hampshire Constabulary to make sure that it operates as efficiently and effectively as possible within available resources for the people of Hampshire and the isle of Wight. The Authority is independent of the Constabulary and acts as a critical friend, supporting or challenging the actions and performance of the Force, as appropriate.

Equality Data (coming 31 January 2012)

Policing on a daily basis is provided by Hampshire Constabulary, any equality data relating to the work of Hampshire Constabulary can be found at the links below and on the Hampshire Constabulary website.

All Police Authority Committees regularly scrutinise areas of the Constabulary’s work that impacts upon equality. The relevant papers can be found on the committee pages. Data monitored, challenged and scrutinised includes:

• Staff data (Personnel & Professional Standards Committee)

  • Human Resource

  • Mental Health (Staff and Officers)

  • Recruitment and promotion  46kb

  • Numbers of full and part time staff  27kb

  • Pay and remuneration  30kb

  • Equal pay audit

  • Learning and development

  • Force Policies and procedures

  • Force change programme

  • Return to work  25kb (maternity/adoption leave)

  • Grievances  29kb (including about harassment)

  • Disciplinary action  85kb

  • Procurement

• Service data (All committees report to the full Authority)

  • Hate Crime (Performance and Community Engagement Committees)

    • Disability

    • Race

    • Age

    • Sexual Orientation

    • Religious faith

    • Gender and transgender

  • Stop and search (Performance and Community Engagement Committees)

  • Victim satisfaction and victim satisfaction data  40kb (Performance Committee)

  • Accessibility of contact and accessibility of contact data  40kb (Full Authority)

  • Complaints and complaints data(Personnel and Professional Standards Committee)

  • Mental Health (service provision) (Full Authority and Community Engagement)

  • Detention (Full Authority via Independent Custody Visitors)

  • Domestic abuse and honour based violence (Performance and Community Engagement Committees)

The staff working directly for Hampshire Police Authority are employees of Hampshire County Council, to see staff data, policies and procedures and other equality information on this subject please visit www.hants.gov.uk

Hampshire Police Authority runs an Independent Custody Visitor scheme, to check on the welfare and wellbeing of people held in police custody and reports are provided to the full Authority meetings.  As of January 2012 we have 55 volunteers. To find out more about the scheme please visit our Custody Visiting pages.

The Authority currently engages all sections of the community to ensure that Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are safer places to live, work and visit. Our engagement activities enable us to understand the publics' priorities and staisfaction in the local police.   Some of the engagement conducted in 2011/12 focussed areas that directly impacted upon equality, diversity and human rights for example:

• stop and search roadshows

• BME victim satisfaction disparity

• Disability hate crime roadshows

All these views help to helping shape the Policing Plan.

The Authority also works in partnership with community and voluntary organisations such as Hampshire Autistic Society with whom the we have produced the  “Autism Alert Card”, that allows people with autism to be easily identified if they ever come into contact with the criminal justice system.

The Autism Alert Partnership won the prestigious ‘Police project of the Year’ award at the second annual iESE Awards in March 2011.

Equality Objective

The Police Authority and Constabulary's equality objectives will be considered at a meeting of the full Authority on 14 February 2012 and will be published by 6 April 2012.. To set the equality objectives the equality data was analysed for gaps and areas for improvement together with the findings of the Police Authority's engagement activity during 2011/12.