Kerrin Wilson: Representation in policing 'not good enough'

Kerrin Wilson began her career in 1992 at Northumbria Police

A retiring police officer has said when she steps down it will mean there is only one woman of colour amongst more than 250 senior officers across the UK.

Lincolnshire Police's Assistant Chief Constable (ACC) Kerrin Wilson said the situation was "not good enough".

ACC Wilson said people from ethnic minority backgrounds would not join the force if there were no role models.

She said it "felt quite isolating" that she had no-one like her to speak to at the start of her policing career.

ACC Wilson, who joined the Lincolnshire force in 2018, said more needed to be done to improve the number of senior officers from diverse backgrounds.

"I am only one of two women of colour as a chief officer across the whole of the UK and that's over 250 chief officers," she said.

"When I go there will only be one and that can't be good enough and that isn't good enough for the service because we won't attract people if they don't see role models they can aspire to."

ACC Wilson, who is due to retire in December, began her career at Northumbria Police and also served with Cleveland Constabulary, North Yorkshire Police and Durham Constabulary.

Speaking about the start of her career, ACC Wilson said: "It felt quite isolating that I had nobody else to talk to because there is a lot of self-doubt when you are the only one of which ever minority community you belong to."

She said despite progress the police had a "huge way to go".

"We are still appalling in our statistics nationally about how many women of colour in policing we have."

In addition to her role as ACC, she has also held national roles with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and has been awarded the Queen's Police Medal (QPM).

She said she hoped her legacy would be a "much stronger position for people to come in after me".