Panel questions police force's drop in women and minority recruits

Thames Valley’s PCC has warned of the risks of ‘reading too much’ into diversity hire numbers within the police – saying this could worsen tensions and weaken the force.

At a Police and Crime Panel on Friday (January 23), councillors scrutinised recruitment and retention of police officers in Thames Valley Police (TVP).

In general, fewer officers are quitting the force. Resignations have fallen over the past year, putting Thames Valley ‘among the best-performing forces in the country’ for improvement.

For the most part, people leaving – or indeed, being dismissed – are doing so in the early stages, sometimes during their probationary period.

Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber said ‘once you’ve got them for five years, you’ve got them for life’; and as such, a smaller proportion of officers leaving after five years is positive.

About 37 per cent of TVP’s workforce has fewer than five years’ service – and Mr Barber said he is ‘happy with that direction.’

He said part of the reason officers dropped out was because, in the past, applicants had been ‘oversold’ what the job would entail and had a limited understanding of the difficult reality of police work.

Updated recruitment practices bring in people with a more realistic view of the work, aiding staff retention.

However, there are ways that TVP isn’t doing so well.

Cllr Karen Rowland of Reading Borough Council (Lab, Abbey) raised concerns over recruitment numbers of women and people from ethnic minority backgrounds – both traditionally underrepresented.

Data shows that the proportion of female recruits fell from 47 per cent in 2021/22 to about 37 per cent in 2024/25.

Meanwhile, the proportion of ethnic minority recruits has trended downwards from 11 per cent in 2020/21 to seven per cent by November 2025.

Cllr Rowland asked where Thames Valley Police had ‘gone off the mark’.

She stressed that it was ‘critical’ in certain situations to have that representation, such as in domestic abuse scenarios, where victims are looking for a police officer who they can relate to.

But Mr Barber stressed that the differences amounted to ‘really small numbers’ and it was ‘hard to say there’s a really clear difference’.

He warned of the dangers of ‘reading too much’ into such ‘marginal’ differences.

“You risk lowering the bar,” he said. “That’s where forces have got into problems.

“We shouldn’t lower the bar for people – whatever the colour of their skin – because we want to meet a particular target. We want the best people.

“I can appreciate on a human level having people who can relate to victims of crime.

“That seems perfectly reasonable – until we get a white victim of domestic abuse who says, ‘I’m not speaking to that black officer.’

“I think we can all agree that would be really problematic. I would be really worried if a member of the public said [that].”

Instead, TVP should aim for a force that looks ‘broadly’ like the people it serves, he said.

Cllr Rowland said she appreciated that the numbers were marginal but requested that TVP keep track of these numbers to avoid further, worse slippage.