A very good morning to you all.
I find myself asked to speak about women in policing. It will be self-evident to you that I am neither a women, nor a Police Officer, which makes what I have to say a little more challenging. The risks of being patronising, clumsy or simply irrelevant seem to me to be pretty high.
So let me start on safe ground. Given I rarely get to address such a large audience, of all ranks, what I can say – with complete confidence – is three important ‘thank yous’ to both female and male Police Officers.
The first is the way you all policed the pandemic. When Governor’s and Governments have emergency powers, when laws are being brought into play at pace, when a population is, at least initially, very fearful, when curfews are imposed and normal personal liberties suspended, any Police Force, anywhere in the world, could get the balance between policing with consent, and policing through coercion wrong – and some Forces did.
You – the RTCIPF – did not – and as a result you burnished rather than tarnished this Force’s reputation during that…
