Police Culture – Does bullying make you stronger?

Being bullied in the workplace is nothing new. It was practically endemic when I began my police service at the end of the 1970s. In those days policing was still based very much on military lines, rank structure was clearly defined, there was no answering back and no right of appeal to decisions made. You did what you were told, unless the Sergeant wasn’t looking and you thought you could get away with it. I had been brought up in the RAF, so did not have a defined regional accent. This led to ‘bullying’ from one of my Physical Instructors, with lots of mimicking and endless press-ups when I was unable to say words with a ‘proper’ northern accent. It was amusing at the time, and probably done with all good intent, knowing that when I began to police the streets of towns that grew in the Industrial Revolution and had fallen into recession following the collapse of the cotton trade, I would not go down too well with the locals. That included my police colleagues. I was a local, both my parents had been born and brought up in one such town. The RAF had allowed them to move away and I had never lived in my parent’s county.

Following initial in force training, like all other trainee police officers, I attended a regional training centre, run by the Home Office and staffed by police officer instructors. In those days, you were not trained, you were instructed. Belittling probationers was almost a game for the trainers. This was particularly the case during ‘role plays’. If it looked like you were getting things right and doing well, the ‘role actor’, usually an instructor, would go completely ‘off piste’ and make you look a fool in front of your colleagues. Needless to say, people were not keen to volunteer. It was a shame, as undertaking a role play in a safe learning environment should have been a good way to test your knowledge and skills. What I did find very disturbing about ‘toughening’ trainees up for the real world was how one particular recruit was treated. It is important to remember that there were next to no police officers from a VME background in the early 1980s. One of the Physical Instructors, who was also the Drill Instructor and swimming instructor, was taking us for a swimming session one day. This particular trainee, the only officer from a VME background on the entire intake of 100+ was a weak swimmer.  The instructor told him to get on all fours on the poolside. He then proceeded to sit on him and instruct the class. He actually made comment to the new officer that it was all about getting him ready for the outside world and what he would face. Little did I think that this would be from colleagues, not just the public. I have never forgotten that moment and the embarrassment and shame that officer went through, whilst we stood and watched without comment. Was this how we going to be prepared for police work?

Being part of a service where bullying in training is par for the course, only means one thing, it is going to allow bullies to thrive in the workplace. They certainly did thrive. I suffered at the hands of bullies, who made up stories and did whatever they could to try and get me to resign. This was all because I did not fit the mold of a typical police officer. At the end of my probation, even the Inspector and Chief Inspector were of a mind to ‘let me go’. They accused me of being gay, and I do mean accused. They also suggested as I engaged with young people, I was some sort of paedophile. It was only the intervention of my Sergeant, who fought for my career and ended any chance of furthering his on that day, was I able to have a full career myself. I still think of him regularly and really appreciate what he did for me. No-one else would have done what he did in those days.

Much later in my career, when I was in charge of new recruit training, I always asked the student officers at the end of their initial training what their main concern was as they were about to leave training and move into operational policing. It was always the same answer, ‘We want to fit in.’ The officers wanted to be accepted by their new team. I challenged them, ‘What if the new team was corrupt, bullying, racist, sexist or homophobic?’ The room would often go quiet. I am not saying all teams were like this. The vast majority are not. Most police officers and police staff work hard to serve the public and protect vulnerable people. I have always found that it is the Sergeant who sets the standards for a team and drives performance. I have seen teams destroyed by poor supervision, particularly those where the Sergeant wanted to be a friend. They struggle to criticise or challenge. Some of the new officers would say the ‘right’ thing about challenging, but the reality was that they did not truly mean it. They would much prefer to keep a low profile and hope not to be the victim of bullying, or witness any wrongdoing.

Even today there are individuals and even teams who still hold values and views that are not in line with the College of Policing’s Code of Ethics. They are often protected when a new officer complains about behaviour. Colleagues frequently ‘gang up’ on the new individual. They have to work with the offending officer after all. Indeed the organisation will look to protect itself from an individual, rather than from the ‘cancer’ within. I continually ask myself why would a modern forward thinking and diverse workplace not look to root out corrupt and poor officers? In many cases, I think that there are people in certain roles that hold power unchecked, or that there is a drive to maintain the status quo at a lower level. Many people do not like change. For those officers under threat each day either from the public or change within at organisational level there is a tendency to victim focus. It saves having to deal with the bigger issue, if you simply remove the one person who makes the complaints.

Does bullying still exist in the police service, yes, I’m afraid it does. Does it make you stronger? No, it does not. Colleagues need to support each other, embrace difference and new ways of thinking. Those officers who bully, should self reflect. Are they the agents for positive change or the agents of doom?  By bullying other colleagues are they helping to shape the service for the future, or clinging on to the past? If the service is to represent the community it serves, then it needs to realise that officers and police staff do not fit neatly into one or two molds. The key to improvement is not diktats and policies from the top that do not filter down to the frontline. It is about selecting the right first line supervisor, the Sergeant, or police staff equivalent and supporting them when they challenge individual and team behaviour. It is not about targets, but about protecting your staff, not only from the public on occasion, but from a culture that promotes silence and conformity, even when that conformity leads to good people leaving the service, or to corruption.

In my 30+ years in the service, I have been very fortunate to see the police service modernise and become much more focused on the victim, not just catching the offender. It has embraced diversity and modern working practices. The service now reflects more and more the community it serves, but it also reflects some of the negative aspects as well. The well-being agenda driven by DCC Andy Rhodes, Lancashire Constabulary is a great step in the right direction. Many are supporting it, but there is a long way to go. People still leave because they do not like the culture of the frontline. This is not acceptable. If officers and staff are leaving due to not wanting to be part of corrupt or improper practice, one can only imagine the standard of service those corrupt and bullying officers provide to the public?

m.holleran

Senior Lecturer in Policing Studies at York St John. Launched 3 Policing related degree programmes in September 2017. Preparing the University for the College of Policing's Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF). Over 30yrs in the police service working on the frontline, safer neighbourhoods and training/education. Developed and supported a number of national training initiatives around pre-join programmes. Interests in police organisational culture, gender issues and the study of inter-personal violence (domestic abuse).

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *