In this season of resolutions, I return to a theme I have blogged about previously - data. In doing this I seek your support in pushing the case I make, within your own organisation, for collecting data around neurodiverse and disabled colleagues, victims, witnesses and indeed offenders more fully. 

Doing this will bring significant internal and external benefits. It will enable us to reflect the communities we serve.  It will  represent a significant step in ending the discrimination that we as disabled and neurodiverse people face through systems, processes and attitudes brought about largely by the decisions that are being made about us, yet without us, without full sight of their impact. And If, and hopefully when, the standard is adopted into the Criminal Justice System, I believe it will highlight vulnerabilities far better. For example, the number of children who are missing or exploited who are neurodiverse. It is the thin end of the wedge of understanding. 

The Neurodiversity in the CJS review, published July 2021 – conducted by HMRCFRS, the Inspectorate of Prisons and the Inspectorate of Probation made the following recommendations:

That, “A common screening tool for universal use within the criminal justice system should be introduced, supported by an information sharing protocol specifying how information should be appropriately shared within and between agencies, to make sure that necessary adjustments and extra support are provided for individuals as they progress through the criminal justice system.”

 

That; “Screening data should be systematically collected and aggregated to provide a more accurate assessment of the prevalence of neurodivergence to inform needs analysis and service planning at all levels of the criminal justice system.”

More recently the new Culture and Inclusion Strategy for 2025 to 2030 has been published. National policing culture and inclusion strategy 2025 to 2030 | College of Policing. Within the Themes section of this document, on page 12, you will see the requirement outlined: to improve the capture, analysis and use of data. And, more particularly, “Identifying and addressing disparities in outcome, discrimination, harassment or victimisation is impossible without accurate, meaningful and usable data. Access to and understanding of data is also a key evidence base for the development of new policies, processes, programmes and standards.”

“Collecting, recording and analysing data and information relating to culture and inclusion remains a significant challenge for many forces. The national workforce and operational protected characteristics data standards will support this work.”

I have been fortunate enough to be tasked by ACC Welstead, the NPCC lead for neuro diversity, to lead a working group under the auspices of the National Neurodiversity Working Group (NNDWG), to look at what data needs to be captured to ensure the discrimination I refer to can be identified, if and where it exists. The data is key.

This first part of my task is easy, identifying what options for self-identification colleagues are offered. This becomes more complex, when we consider  intersectionality. Within the PSA, I am working with our inclusion representatives, David Oram (Race), Heather Whoriskey (Gender) and Ed Haywood-Noble (LGBTQ+) to ensure what we are offering as a service, is appropriate and inclusive. We need to be able to ask our people who they are, in the most appropriate and respectful way, to identify not only how many of our teams are neurodivergent and/or disabled, but also which other protected characteristics they also have.

The aim of our work is to present a list of options for data recording and analysis outcomes, so that, through the NPCC, the College of Policing, NLEDS, NICHE and any other relevant work stream, these options will be offered. There is a significant appetite for this work within these bodies, but we need your support in pushing this over the line and understanding the importance of it.

Providing the opportunity to self-record accurately so data can be analysed is but the first step. The second, much harder step, is making those who presently choose not to record who they are, confident that if they do ‘un-mask’ they will not be discriminated against. There remains a reluctance to share a diagnosis, there remains a stigma to sharing, and there are those who have self-diagnosed but don't want to get a formal diagnosis and don't want to share their belief for the reasons above.

Our belief is that at least 20% of our colleagues in policing are neurodiverse and that figure is probably soft, and the number is far higher. But until this ground swell is formed and the first domino is pushed over, we will never know. What we do know is that diagnosis of women and people of colour is much lower than amongst white males. This is a broader societal problem, with the wait for assessments being in years not months. But we must push that first domino internally.

Further to this, without accurate data capture across all our systems how will we truly know who our victims are? For example, disability hate crime, which is both under-reported and under-recorded. I would suggest less importance is placed on identifying disability hate crime than other crime types, despite its impact.

I have been working to press the disability and neurodiversity agenda for some years now. And I am a hugely reflective individual – a major part of my own autism. All my work has driven me to this one single conclusion. Data. Without the data to prove what I know to be true; my colleagues who need support will not get it. They will continue to fail exams because the reasonable adjustments of writing questions in an appropriate style are not in place. They will continue to fail selection processes because these processes are not designed to identify the skills of the neurodiverse, and they will continue to work much harder just to stand still. 
 
From an organisational efficiency perspective, we will fail to get the most from these colleagues who can offer so much in ways that haven’t been explored or welcomed.

My resolution is to advocate even more loudly.

I ask that your resolution be to support this work and advocate in your own organisation to make sure as basic requirement the opportunity for detailed self-identification is offered.