Profile: Cressida Dick, Head of the diversity directorate, Metropolitan Police Service

The death of Stephen Lawrence 10 years ago was a turning point for the Metropolitan Police Service (Met). Not only did the ensuing inquiry spark an intensive rethink of the way racism was tackled within the police service, it also led to the establishment of a new diversity strategy at the Met. Charlotte Wolff spoke to Commander Cressida Dick, who became head of the Met's diversity directorate in April 2002, to discover the extent of the challenges facing her in this demanding role.

The inquiry into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence (EOR 84) concluded that the investigation by the Metropolitan Police into the black South Londoner's murder was marred by a combination of factors, including "institutional racism". This it defined as "the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin".

In response to the report, the Met set up a diversity strategy that aims "to change the way the Met operates to meet better the needs of London's many different minority ethnic communities". Commander Dick emphasises that the strategy recognises the crucial link between achieving the external delivery of services and internal diversity: "I don't think there is any business or service where it is as clear as it is in policing that you have to work on both in tandem.

"For us, the whole premise is not what is 'nice' or 'right', or about forming a 'business case'; we talk instead about what is operationally effective. If you don't have a healthy culture or a diverse workforce, you won't be able to deliver on those services. Policing relies on consent, and if there is no consent from the community, we won't have victims, witnesses or informants coming forward and we will not be able to recruit the best people."

Diversity directorate

As head of the diversity directorate, Commander Dick reports directly to Sir Ian Blair, the force's deputy commissioner. Her remit is to promulgate the Met's diversity strategy across the service and to ensure that the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report is properly implemented.

Commander Dick was asked to take on the diversity leadership role following a career break in which she studied for a masters degree in criminology -specialising in race, gender and criminal justice issues. Although not a human resource specialist, she has been in the police service since 1983 and has a broad understanding of policing. She stresses that she has always fought hard for equality, fairness and diversity throughout her career, and so relished the move as an opportunity to back up her words with actions: "I saw it as a chance to really influence things on a large stage."

Dick has various teams under her command. Delivery of diversity issues through policing and community relations is overseen by the racial and violent crime task force arm of the diversity directorate.

On the internal employment side, the development and organisation improvement team has responsibility for supporting equality in the areas of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, faith and age, under the respective banners of: Engender, Embrace, Enable, Enlighten, Faithful and Engage.

Other important bodies that contribute to the Met's diversity strategies are the independent advisory group and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender advisory group (which recently helped to create the Met's policy for transsexual employees). These are made up of independent advisers from the community - largely people who have been critical of the police.

Dick is particularly proud of the various support staff associations, which, she affirms, are very strong and growing rapidly. These help to form internal and external policies and practices in relation to their own particular areas of experience, and are key to ensuring that issues are raised and unfairness challenged. They are also very active in recruitment, and are an important bridge between their communities and the police.

The groups range from women's, gay and black police associations to various cultural associations, such as Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jews, Greeks and Anglo-Italians. Although set up independently, they receive financial and administrative support from the Met.

Having focused primarily on race and gender, the diversity directorate is now increasing its understanding of diversity issues on a wider scale, including sexual orientation and disability. The latter is due partly to forthcoming changes in legislation - in October 2004 the employment provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act will be extended to cover operational police officers.

Internal issues

Since the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, the Met has concentrated more on the external side of diversity than on the internal, but the balance is shifting. Currently, some 30% of Commander Dick's time is spent on staff and internal culture issues. From an equalities budget of over £100 million, the directorate receives £9.7 million per year.

Two-thirds of this funding goes on operational work, such as investigations into hate crime, but a fair amount goes on developing individuals from underrepresented groups. For instance, personal leadership programmes aimed primarily at ethnic minority constables and sergeants are underway; programmes are being developed for female staff; and an awareness programme for staff on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues is planned.

The Met's "Nought to Five" programme concentrates on retention and progression of black and Asian officers during their first five years - the period when they are most likely to leave. The scheme includes mentoring and support with internal job applications. Another initiative is an open day for underrepresented groups held by specialist units that are historically regarded as more difficult for women and ethnic minority groups to enter. The emphasis is on breaking down the barriers and the myths about why people feel they cannot apply for these jobs.

A particularly costly aspect of diversity work is training. The community and race relations training programme has just been rolled out to 37,000 employees. Phase two of the training programme - which is in its pilot stage - focuses mainly on gender issues and challenges people to think more about how they treat others in the workplace as well as outside.

Women

Commander Dick refers to the poor representation of female police officers (17%) as disastrous. She also points out that there are no women on the management board. However, she does believe that attitudes to women within the force have improved since she joined, when it was a "very white, male-dominated organisation". Although she says she never felt held back, Dick admits that, as a woman, she has occasionally had to work twice as hard.

She is aware that some female police officers do feel that the system is against them, and puts this down more to chance than anything else. "There are tons of different subcultures in the Met, even today. In the old days some were much tougher for women than others. It also depends on personalities. You just need to come up against one leader who is old-fashioned or sexist and it can be quite horrible," she explains. The Met's various programmes to improve the situation for women are delivered through a project known as the Gender Agenda.

Targets

One of the most challenging aspects of Commander Dick's remit is the requirement to meet stringent Home Office targets for recruitment, retention and progression of ethnic minority staff. Set in 1999, the 10-year objectives for all police services in England and Wales aim at achieving a 25% ethnic minority population among Metropolitan Police employees by 2009 - a figure that reflects the local population. When the targets were set, just 3.3% of the Met's police officers were from ethnic minority groups, although the figure was higher for civil staff at 14.6%.

In 2003, the proportion of police officers from ethnic minority groups has risen to 5.6% (1,628). Among civil staff, the percentage is 19.5%, and the level of ethnic minority community support officers (a new level of officer recently recruited to be a visible presence for the community) is as high as 35.5%.

Commander Dick acknowledges that the targets are very demanding, particularly considering that the Met is a growing organisation seeking to recruit an additional 3,440 police officers this year alone. "I think if someone had really modelled it back in 1999, they would have seen just how challenging the targets would be - but I am not sure that anybody could have predicted the growth within the Met. They were always very, very ambitious, but they are now extraordinarily challenging."

The Met is investing vast amounts of resources into recruitment of ethnic minority staff. However, raising the trust and confidence of potential employees in the community is a long-term goal. Furthermore, the Met, which is the largest single employer in London - with 29,000 police officers and 15,000 civil staff - must compete with other employers in seeking talented people from a limited pool of individuals.

Recently, two black members of the recruitment task force suggested the introduction of a bounty scheme, whereby an incentive would be offered to employees who introduce black individuals to the force. This has caused much controversy, however, especially among black staff - many of whom believe it would create more barriers than it removes. It looks unlikely that it will come to fruition.

The difficulties surrounding this proposal are typical of the atmosphere that Commander Dick faces: "In my role, we get used to ideas that are too much for some and not enough for others." Both race and policing, she observes, are extremely politicised.

Rooting out racism

Inevitably, there are some people within the Met who harbour negative feelings towards ethnic minority groups, but Commander Dick argues that those who are actively racist within the organisation are few and far between. "They know that by being visible they will be disciplined and probably sacked, depending on the severity."

In terms of institutional racism, she stresses that the Met is not alone, although arguably just one of a few organisations that admits to it. "The challenge is to reduce it as much as you can," she declares. The concept is useful, she believes, in that it requires you to examine processes and outcomes, as well as what is done unconsciously or through ignorance. She stresses, however, that it does not mean that the organisation is full of racists.

Progress

Dick has witnessed a significant change within the Met over the past five years, commenting: "Even senior people five years ago would not have seen diversity as an operational necessity." In terms of image, she cites the London Pride Parade, where gay police marched in uniform for the first time this year. "It's a symbol of a modern organisation that the Met's staff feel able - and proud - to do that," she states.

The Met's successful recruitment and anti-hate crime stands at the event proved that people are supportive of the police - and gay police - and also that the organisation has come a long way over the past five years.

For the future, like all those working in the diversity field, Dick is aware of the need to prepare for new legislation. However, compliance is just a minor motivator, she contends: "Our main aim is to make London safer for all its communities and to be an employer of choice for London."