Our police MUST do more to challenge macho culture

WHEN I was growing up in the 1960s and 70s, I was given dolls to play with: my brothers got guns. Parenting today is more enlightened and many parents seek to avoid gender stereotypes. It would appear, though, that the antiquated attitudes of my parents (their excuse being that they were born nearly a century ago) appear to be alive and kicking in 21st-century policing. When PC Rhona Malone became a firearms officer at Police Scotland, she no doubt expected her intensive training for this demanding role would be valued. It was, after all, exactly the same training as her male colleagues. But as we heard this week, a tribunal found that she experienced anything but equal treatment. She told the tribunal an official email instructed that female officers had to have a male officer with them on patrols. Her experience of sexist attitudes was not isolated. Another female officer was told female officers’ periods affected their temperament and they should not be armed. It is deeply distressing that my parents’ attitudes to girls and guns prevail in modern-day policing. You might think that a female boss would be supportive of PC Malone’s complaints about this unpleasant boys’ club culture, but no. Her female commanding officer did not want her career blighted by complaints of sexism in the ranks. Without wishing to defend her position, I do recognise that it can be hard to speak out against an ingrained culture, where you then find yourself a target.

THAT is how these toxic cultures are maintained. People fear speaking out, becoming a target. I know this from personal experience.

When I spoke out about the Scottish Police Authority’s plans to hold committee meetings behind closed doors when I sat on its board, the chairman made my position untenable.

He was the one who pushed through a bad decision, which he was forced to overturn, but I was the one who had to resign for challenging him.

Like PC Malone, I had an independent and authoritative source [Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary] later prove I was right, but being right is cold comfort when you have been pushed out. He still had his position on the board but I was abandoned by colleagues.

When a parliamentary committee asked me if I believed he’d have treated a man that way, there was only one answer: no. It’s easy to see these kinds of things as isolated incidents. They’re not.

Distinguished lawyer and former Lord Advocate Dame Elish Angiolini, in her report into Scottish policing last year, found ‘very worrying evidence’ of discrimination against female officers and a ‘canteen culture’.

I have heard evidence myself from women in policing of macho attitudes being widespread. Whether male or female, calling out bad behaviour can be career-damaging, so why take the risk?

Well, I’d argue that until people speak out, nothing will change. Yes, calling it out does damage careers.

Heaven knows what elevated position I would occupy now, if only I’d kept my mouth shut. Public service rewards the ones who don’t rock the boat, don’t ask difficult questions, don’t challenge too much, know their place.

IT should reward the Rhona Malones, the brave ones who do the right thing, and who are the catalyst for change. We need more Rhona Malones, because they are the ones whose challenges will lead to a more inclusive workplace.

That will benefit us all because policing is haemorrhaging great female, gay and minority ethnic talent.

Dame Elish wrote about the loss of enthusiastic, intelligent and public-spirited officers due to unequal treatment. Let’s nurture the good officers, let them flourish and create a police service that better reflects Scotland’s communities.

At the same time, we need to root out the officers who, like one of PC Malone’s male bosses, shared images of topless women with colleagues.

That kind of behaviour is unacceptable, but until we see a zero-tolerance approach, it will continue – and in turn it will perpetuate inappropriate attitudes.

We’re lucky to have a police service that, by and large, is one of the best in the world.

Let us hope that PC Malone’s success at tribunal will be a turning point that will lead to the eradication of this unhealthy culture of racism, sexism, misogyny and homophobia.

As Dame Elish said in her report: ‘If officers behave badly towards each other, the prospect of fair treatment to members of the public is greatly diminished.’

That’s why police culture is a matter for all of us.