Organisational flexibility within policing: An exploration of the experiences of disabled police officers in England and Wales

• In Event: POLWG Panel 24. Diversity in Policing: Cop Culture, diversity policies and experiences of officers and staff

Abstract

The exact number of police officers within England and Wales with a disability is difficult to ascertain. Only 60.8% of officers have stated their disability status, of which 9.2% have declared a disability (approximately 8,200 officers) (Home Office, 2024). Nearly half of the employment tribunals in 2023 related to disability discrimination and Baroness Casey (2023) recognised those with disabilities within the police as a particular group at risk of institutional discrimination, yet this is an under-researched group within the academic literature. Research with police leavers who voluntarily resigned from the police service found that officers are leaving due to perceptions of organisational injustice which focus upon: a lack of voice; concerns about promotion/progression; poor leadership; and a lack of organisational flexibility - the latter of which disproportionately impacted disabled individuals. This paper will present the emerging findings of a project funded by the British Academy/Leverhulme Trust small grant scheme, exploring the lived experiences of disabled police officers, with a specific focus on the experiences of organisational flexibility, from both cultural and structural perspectives. Issues such as disclosure, socialisation, reasonable adjustments, career planning and discrimination will be discussed within this paper, within the combined findings of a national survey and semi-structured interviews. Targeted recruitment campaigns have only recently been extended to those with disabilities, yet this is only with very limited knowledge of the organisational (cultural and structural) processes and how disabled officers experience these. This research therefore starts to question the profile of a ‘typical’ police officer that has guided organisational practices, provides informed strategies for the recruitment and retention of this group and in doing so places an essential spotlight on disability within the police workforce.

Author

• Jemma Tyson, University of Portsmouth