Impact and Insights Report 2020/21
Constructive disruption and innovation

“Being a Police Now officer gives you a real strong sense of questioning things, never accepting things the way they are, fighting for change and making things different.”
Police Constable Rose Osborne,
National Graduate Leadership Programme Participant, Avon & Somerset Police.
CONSTRUCTIVE DISRUPTION – WHAT DOES IT MEAN AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT IN THE CONTEXT OF POLICING?
Police Now’s programmes are designed to support participants to lead with the mindset of constructive disruption.

DIVERSITY ENHANCES INNOVATION AND PERFORMANCE IN THE WORKPLACE
A diverse workforce that incorporates differences in experience, perspectives and background has been shown to help foster innovation and drive high performance.
For example, Forbes’ best workplaces for diversity were shown to enjoy 24% higher revenue growth2. In the context of policing, a diverse workforce can strengthen policing’s ability to innovate, address community issues and improve perceptions of police legitimacy. In Syed’s diagram below, each circle represents a smart person with knowledge. When in a homogeneous team, individuals think in the same way, share the same perspectives, and draw on the same knowledge.
Diverse teams, on the other hand, have coverage of knowledge, skills, experience, and background. Each individual has the same amount of knowledge as the homogeneous group, but they use it differently. They bring insights from different perspectives which challenge, augment and diverge together to create collective intelligence3.
Syed, M (2019). Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking.

CASE STUDY

Police Constable Gina Volp,
National Graduate Leadership Programme Alumnus, Cheshire Police.
Winner of the Tilley Award: Investigations Category 2020.
The problem:
The approach:
Finally, we also liaised with officers from our neighbouring forces to ensure they were equipped with the appropriate information and intelligence, should they encounter any suspects involved in the CSE.
The impact:
Following a complaint made from a hotel, the suspect was arrested for sexual offences and bailed with conditions that prohibited her from contacting anyone under the age of 16. Whilst initially there were vulnerable females subject to CSE, the operation has resulted in 11 of them no longer associating with the suspect. The number of times the vulnerable females have gone missing from home has also reduced by 64%.
A significant number have expressed to their guardians that they are no longer friends with the suspect and now understand why their relationship with her was inappropriate. Partner agencies have also reported that family relationships have improved, and schools have reported an increase in engagement. Despite the suspect being previously unknown to police, there are now 42 pieces of intelligence about her on the police system. There has also been a further 13 charges as a result of this work.
FOOTNOTES
The College of Policing ‘Future Operating Environment 2040'. Available online here. ↩
Stovall, J (2018). How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Available online here. ↩
Syed, M (2019). Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking. ↩