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Thank you for taking the time to leave a detailed review of Police Now.
I am, as you would expect, disappointed by much of the content of your review and both sad and sorry that your experience here was not positive. I and others in the senior team have reflected and will continue to reflect carefully on the points that you make. As you say, Police Now is full of great people working very hard to achieve a critically important mission for policing and for communities throughout the UK. What we are trying to achieve is challenging, and as you know from the conversations we had during your time in the organisation, I am the first to accept that we do not always get everything right.
It is also necessary to respond directly to some of the points you make. You are right to state that Police Now has made a small number of redundancies in the past. In that respect it is an organisation like any other. These took place in 2021 and were the result of dramatic changes in the economic, policing, and police recruitment and training landscape - it was a particularly difficult time and a decision not taken lightly. Based on the results of our most recent employee engagement surveys and the anecdotal evidence I hear from talking to colleagues across the organisation, Police Now is a very good employer and has gone from strength to strength since that time.
Under my leadership, Police Now takes its responsibility towards the wellbeing of our people – whether in the organisation itself, within our partner forces or on our programmes – very seriously. Indeed, since 2022 it has been our number one organisational priority, and you know this. In common with other parts of policing, we have made major investments into our people in the last two years, examples being pay awards to recognise the increased cost-of-living (including substantially widened eligibility for said awards), generous maternity provision, hybrid flexible working, a strong track record of promoting internally on merit, staff training, physical and mental health support, competitive employer pension provision, and more. I am proud that Police Now treats its employees in the way that it advocates those working throughout policing should be treated, especially given the relatively small size of the organisation.
As you rightly point out, the provision of a competitive package for our people must be balanced against securing best possible value for public money. We work hard and require strong performance because the public and the organisations we work with rightly expect results and return on their investment. Police Now is a lean organisation and that means everyone must pull their weight. It is our strategy – and again, you know this – to prioritise relentlessly so that whatever activities we undertake, we do them well and fund them appropriately. This naturally means that some other activities we can’t do and that is a choice we make. Value is not the same as cost, and it is odd that you speak positively about being well rewarded for the work you did whilst at the same time arguing that those colleagues you have left behind should be less well rewarded, developed and supported than they are in the interests of cutting ‘waste’.
Over the past decade, we've trained and recruited thousands of diverse and brilliant officers who have worked incredibly hard to make significant contributions to assisting victims of crime and building public trust. It's disheartening to hear suggestions that those officers aren't making a positive impact on society or fulfilling our mission when we have so much evidence to the contrary. I know that our programme participants would be desperately disappointed – as I am – to hear that you have spoken of their hard work in this way. They and we would be the first to admit that policing isn’t perfect, but it’s in a far better place thanks to their efforts.
Indeed, we recently welcomed one of our most diverse cohorts in neighbourhood policing, with 24% identifying as ethnic minority, 51% female, 20% had free school meals, 56% were first generation university students and 19% identify as LGBTQ+. We've also just recruited our largest ever National Detective Programme cohort, which saw 229 officers attested in March this year.
Finally, you mention nepotism, tokenism and bullying. I can unequivocally state that those activities have no place at Police Now and invite you to write to me directly with any evidence you have of this taking place.
From your time working at Police Now, you know that occasionally people are asked to leave the organisation if they do not meet our values and high standards and have not utilised the improvement support we offer. I make no apology for this as there is nothing more disheartening for colleagues and toxic for workplace culture as witnessing unethical or unprofessional behaviour go unchallenged. Likewise, I make no apology for championing difference, and I expect everyone at Police Now to do the same regardless of ethnicity, gender, belief, background, experience or anything else.
We don’t get everything right because perfection isn’t real life. But we strive to be the best we can be in pursuit of our mission and are fortunate to have a fantastic and committed team, to work with many brilliant and trusted partners inside and outside of policing, and to have so many outstanding and diverse people on our programmes and in our alumni group.
Thank you again for your review. I hope that in the coming months you will reflect carefully and honestly on your time at Police Now. I wish you only success and good fortune in the future.
Kurtis Christoforides, Chief Executive Officer, Police Now
