PCC's pledge on public trust and confidence
The person responsible for holding Nottinghamshire Police to account has vowed the force will continue its efforts to earn hard-fought public trust and confidence, amid a national documentary exposing racism and misogyny by officers in London’s Metropolitan Police.
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Gary Godden said the behaviours shown by the undercover BBC Panorama report were abhorrent to everyone who proudly pulls on the uniform every day to serve the public and keep all of our diverse communities safe.
PCC Godden said: “I would like to reassure our local communities that Nottinghamshire Police works incredibly hard to be an anti-discriminatory force – which means it is embedding a culture within the workforce of being active upstanders against inappropriate behaviour and rooting out those who are not suitable to wear the uniform.
“I have a range of mechanisms to scrutinise the force on behalf of the public and make sure it is delivering a safer Nottinghamshire for all.
“What I see is a force that is committed to stamping out discrimination and enabling the workforce to call out any behaviour or attitudes that do not represent the very highest expectations. This is done through training and education programmes, clear reporting mechanisms and strategic leadership in anti-racism, violence against women and girls and community cohesion.”
PCC Godden added that his Office carries out public surveys of thousands of people across Nottinghamshire every quarter to help understand how they feel about crime and antisocial behaviour – including levels of trust and confidence in the police.
“After a period where trust and confidence had dipped, we had recently started to see green shoots of recovery in levels of public trust and confidence in the police,” he said.
“We believe this may be due to the force coming out of engage status and implementing a new neighbourhood policing model which allows officers to spend more time back in the heart of our communities dealing with issue that matter most to local people.
“We know trust and confidence is incredibly heard-earned, yet incredibly easy to lose, and when national incidents happen it can have an impact on how people feel about the police generally.
“So it is more important than ever that Nottinghamshire Police continues to keep working hard for our local communities and demonstrating clearly that it is here to serve everyone.”