- Conference
- 2025 Police, Probation and CAFCASS Conference
- Date
- 2 October 2025
- Decision
- Carried
Conference, the BBC Panorama program broadcast on Wednesday 1st October 2025 made for difficult viewing. When this sort of behaviour comes to light, it reflects on all of us who work in policing.
We know that the majority of police officers and police staff are dedicated to providing a respectful, professional and fair service to the public, upholding the highest standards, and treating their colleagues with dignity and respect.
Racism, homophobia, and misogyny, have no place in policing, and must be called out. Our standards of professional behaviour reinforce the obligations of all police service employees to act with self-control and tolerance, treating members of the public and colleagues with dignity, respect and courtesy. It also places a duty upon police staff to report, challenge or take action against the conduct of colleagues which have fallen below the standards of professional behaviour expected.
The culture in policing may not always be conducive to enable challenge, and when the behaviour is exhibited by managers, supervisors, and cliques within the workplace, it can be very difficult for police staff to realise their obligations. We have seen a number of investigations over recent years into poor behaviour with a view to raising standards and increasing vetting. What screams out from all these examples of poor behaviour is the impact of culture within policing.
The culture in policing needs to be addressed, if not, we will unfortunately risk seeing these issues come to light in future if we fail to act. There are concerns that this behaviour may be occurring in other workplaces, and we must do all in our power to challenge it. Institutional racism, misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia unfortunately remain a challenge for all who work in policing and we as trade unionists must play our part in changing the police service for the better, for those we serve and for those that serve with us.
Conference calls on the SGE to:
1)Condemn the unacceptable behaviour demonstrated in the program.
2)Commit to supporting police staff who challenge poor behaviour, who may feel isolated by empowering them to challenge without fear of repercussions.
3)Make representations to the home office, NPCC, HMICFRS and PSC to show leadership by supporting police staff to challenge poor behaviour.
4)Campaign to change the culture in policing by seeking the support of, and to work in partnership with the police federation and superintendents association.
5)Seek to enable training that is specific to police staff to enable them to challenge poor behaviour in policing.
6)Report back to conference on any progress arising from the actions above.