The members of the group were :
Jan Berry, Police
Federation of England and Wales
Jan Berry is Vice Chairman of the Police Federation – the
staff association which represents more than 120,000 police officers between
the ranks of constable and chief inspector. She joined Kent County Constabulary
as a cadet in 1971 and is now a Chief Inspector. During her service she has
worked as a detective, taught police law and practice and advised on crime
prevention. Jan also specialised in dealing with cases of child abuse and
domestic violence. In 1987 Jan became the Woman Inspectors’ Federation
representative in Kent and was elected Chairman of the Kent branch of the
Police Federation in 1981. In 1993 she was elected onto the National Committee
of the Police Federation and was the General Secretary of the Inspectors’
Central Committee before being elected as Vice Chairman in July 2000.
Chief Inspector Ellie
Bird, West Midlands Police
Ellie Bird is Head of Press and Public Relations for West
Midlands Police. She joined the force in 1983 and has experience in uniform and
headquarters roles. As a constable, Ellie remembers having to wait for the
Detective Police Woman’s post to become vacant. She has a BA in Business
Administration and an MBA in Public Policy. In her current role Ellie is
exploring ways in which the police service can communicate more effectively
with the diverse communities that make up the West Midlands. She hopes that
these lessons will also help in improving the way in which the service as a
whole markets its opportunities and achievements, particularly around the areas
of recruitment, retention and progression of women officers. In driving the
Gender Agenda forward in the West Midlands, Ellie is leading on forming network
and focus groups to raise awareness of the issues facing women, and to bring
about changes where needed.
Inspector Lorraine
Bottomley, West Midlands Police
Lorraine Bottomley joined the police service in 1986 and has
spent the majority of her career as a uniform operational officer. She has been
actively involved in equality issues for the past six years. As Secretary of
the ACTION E national equal opportunities group Lorraine organised two national
seminars for EO staff covering part time working, recruitment and retention,
networking and mentoring. She is also a
member of the ACPO Equalities Sub-Committee and played a lead role in writing
the document ‘Part Time Working and Flexible Working Options’. Lorraine has a
degree in management and is just completing her Masters in law.
Professor Jennifer
Brown, University of Surrey
Jennifer Brown is professor in forensic psychology at the
University of Surrey where she is director of the Masters programme. She has
researched extensively into equality issues within the police and most recently
collaborated with Professor Frances Heidensohn on a comparative analysis of
policewomen’s experiences, producing a book – Gender and Policing. She
previously worked at Portsmouth University providing distance learning courses
for police officers and also spent eight years as the research manager for
Hampshire Constabulary.
Irene Divine, British
Association of Women Police
Irene Divine is National Co-ordinator of the British
Association of Women Police (BAWP). She joined Lancashire Constabulary in 1972,
transferring to Greater Manchester Police two years later. Most of her service
has been in uniform operations in Rochdale, Salford and Oldham but she also
spent time in CID and the force’s Discipline and Complaints branch. During her
career Irene was involved in enquiries into the Yorkshire Ripper murders and
was a football match commander in the then first division. In the last ten
years of her service Irene was a Chief Inspector and then as a Superintendent
she was Sub-Divisional Commander of a busy urban area. As National Co-ordinator
of BAWP Irene is responsible for membership and liaison with police and other
agencies.
Detective
Superintendent Colette Paul
Colette Paul joined the Metropolitan Police in 1982. During
her service she has spent most of her time in CID working in north and east
London. During 1998 – 2000 Colette took a two-year career break in Canada. She
is now running a Pro-Active Task Force for the Diversity Directorate, a job
which co-ordinates the work of intelligence and surveillance units to tackle
race, hate and violent crime across London.
Detective
Superintendent Jackie Roberts, South Wales Police
Jackie Roberts has 17 years police service having joined
South Wales Police in 1983. She has served in a number of posts both in uniform
and CID departments, and has worked as Staff Officer to the Chief Constable. In
July this year Jackie was appointed Deputy Head of the Criminal Investigation
Department and is Chair of the South Wales Female Police Association.
Assistant Chief
Constable Julie Spence, Thames Valley Police
Julie Spence is ACC Corporate Development for Thames Valley
Police and is President of the British Association of Women Police. Her initial
training was in teaching, but after a year she left to join Avon & Somerset
Constabulary where she served until joining TVP in 1999. During her career she
has enjoyed a wide variety of roles including uniform operations, training,
family and child protection, press office and operational command. She spent
two years seconded to the ACPO Secretariat and was involved in policy
development at a national level. In her current post with Thames Valley Police
her directorate is responsible for research, planning, performance, information
technology and corporate communication. Julie is a regional representative on
the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, a member of the ACPO
Equalities Sub-Committee and of the Leadership and Management Development
Board.
Deputy Chief
Constable Anne Summers, West Midlands Police
As Deputy Chief Constable Anne Summers is responsible for
the Development of Force Policy and Planning, Performance and Review,
Communication issues, Audit and Quality of Service Delivery and has been
preparing the force and the Police Authority for Best Value. She also leads
WMP’s drive to develop and deliver its anti-corruption strategy. Anne started
her police career with Avon and Somerset Constabulary in 1971, serving in a
variety of roles including operational commander of an inner city area and head
of the Complaints and Discipline department. She was appointed Assistant Chief
Constable with West Midlands Police in 1996 initially responsible for Community
Affairs and Planning before taking on the Crime portfolio. She was appointed Deputy
Chief Constable in 1999 and was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for
distinguished service in June 2001.
Rachel Tuffin, Home
Office
Rachel Tuffin joined the Leadership, Management and
Organisation section of the Policing and Reducing Crime Unit at the Home Office
in 1998. She is a Senior Research Officer with responsibility for the Equality
and Diversity research programme. Rachel has published reports on the career
progression of minority ethnic police officers, recruitment from minority
ethnic communities and on preparations for Best Value in the police service.
Her current police research topics include flexible working practices, women’s
career progression and national recruitment standards. She was a member of the
first Home Office task force in Macedonia which co-ordinated the evacuation of
refugees from Kosovo in 1999. Before joining the Home Office’s Research,
Development and Statistics Directorate, she was a research fellow at the
University of East London, where she carried out evaluations of crime
prevention and community safety initiatives.
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