WEST Midlands Police is today (Monday March 8) celebrating International Women’s Day and the diversity of roles among 5,000 female employees from its first football unit captain to a VIP motorcycle escort.
The force today employees 5,316 women in total, including specials, accounting for 43.7% of their workforce, with their Deputy Chief Constable and two Assistant Chief Constables all women.
This International Women’s Day the force has been reflecting on how far it has come.
Karen King was the first black female officer to serve in Coventry and went on to became one of the first black inspectors in the West Midlands in 1998.
Karen King
She first joined West Midlands Police as a cadet in 1978 based at Fletchamstead Highway Police Station in Canley and was a uniformed response officer there for 12 years.
Karen said: “I remember turning up at Shirley Station in Solihull and there were no female showers. They had to put a lock on the shower for when I was in there.
“All the other officers were male and I felt that in the beginning they walked round on eggshells so they didn’t ‘offend’ me. But once they got to know me they relaxed a bit.
“When I left, my legacy was a brand new female shower installed and, I hope, a message to other females not to be put off by ‘what has gone before’.”
Karen King was the first black female officer to serve in Coventry
In 2006 she went back to Coventry as a uniformed neighbourhood Inspector and finally retired in 2009, after exactly 30 years.
She has since joined the British Transport Police and is now a uniformed response Inspector at Birmingham New Street.
“And that is where I still am,” she said, “in uniform, fully operational, still keeping up the personal safety training (PST) aged nearly 60!”
While operational policing was once thought of as traditionally male, two new student officer intakes overtook men for the first time in January – with one group recording 52 per cent female students, while the other was a record-breaking 69 per cent.
On average 34.1 per cent of police applications come from women, but in the last six months this has increased to 42.4 per cent.
Chris Thurley, Assistant Director Business Partnering, who oversees recruitment, said: “We’ve worked hard to show that policing is a career for all and our work to attract more female applicants over the past two years seems to be paying off.
“We’re delighted to see more of our intakes including an increasing number of women and it was a cause for celebration that January brought two female-majority intakes for the first time on record.”
New Student officer Sophie Evason who joined the force this year said: “From what I’ve seen already there are so many women in senior positions throughout the force and that gives me real confidence that with hard work and experience I’ll have the opportunity to rise through the ranks.”
Sophie Evason
The current recruitment drive will see the force recruit around 2,800 officers by 2023. WMP says it is committed to increasing representation of all under-represented groups, including women.. If you are interested in a career in policing, see more here.
The growing impact of women in football has seen female players and pundits become role models to millions – WMP has also seen positive influences in their own football unit too thanks to Inspector Sinead Sweeney.
Inspector Sinead Sweeney
Sinead is the first female in permanent charge of the football unit which covers all the region’s clubs – from the Premier League to lower levels – and has the UK’s first dedicated hate crime officer.
She said: “It’s my dream job as I’m always following the football. I’m either listening to it on the radio, reading about it or watching it on the TV.
“Things have clearly been different due to the pandemic but we’re now working towards fans being allowed back into stadiums.”
The force also wants to celebrate the “amazing women” working in their Traffic Unit.
Traffic Inspector Sam Jones praised the department as a diverse team to work in revealing half of the management team is made up of women” all equally as passionate about their job”.
PC Diana Rushton (above), who has worked in Traffic for 14 years, is one of a small number of female motorcyclists.
While juggling the role of being a mum, Diana also trained as a special motorcycle escort which allows her to provide a police escort to high profile visitors to the city and the UK.
You can watch a short video here showcasing the work of women in the traffic department here:
