Wiltshire Police has deleted its new diversity strategy after backlash from the public.
Earlier this week the force announced that it wanted to become the “most inclusive police service in the country”, where people can “fully be their authentic selves”.
The recently published Culture, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (CED&I) strategy for 2025-2030 sparked outcry from the public over the ‘waste of money’.
Wiltshire’s Reform MP, Danny Kruger, branded it “madness” and raised it with Police and Crime Commissioner Phillip Wilkinson – who knew nothing about the plan.
“I’m not raising this to score cheap points at the expense of minorities. I’m doing it because this agenda divides us, and it is a massive waste of police time and resources”, Kruger said.
Adding: “I am very disappointed that our police – who have been improving on a number of measures – are still in thrall to this discredited ideology.
“The way to be ‘inclusive’ is to treat everyone equally, to recruit purely on fitness for the job, and to focus the organisation relentlessly on its primary purpose: deterring and arresting criminals.”
The strategy revealed four focus areas:
• We will focus on mentoring, leadership development for underrepresented groups, and fair, transparent promotion processes to support our people.
• We will ensure policies and processes are equitable, transparent, and designed with inclusion in mind. We will eliminate any systemic bias and embed accountability into how we operate.
• Everyone should feel that Wiltshire Police is responsive, fair, and inclusive. We will continually adapt our approach based on feedback and outcomes, recognising that public expectations evolve and that trust, once built, must continually be earned.
• We will continue to build strong, inclusive partnerships across the criminal justice system and the community, leveraging collective effort to achieve our Culture, Equality, Diversity & Inclusion goals.
The document also stated that sergeants and other managers at the force would undergo further “dedicated culture and inclusive leadership development”.
Following backlash from the public about the spending of taxpayer funds on the strategy, Wiltshire Police pulled the plan – deleting the web page and removing social media posts.
Deputy Chief Constable Mark Cooper, who was in charge of its implementation, said that “it quickly became evident that we needed to ensure wider community consultation”.
Adding: “As a result, we decided to pause the launch and reflect on how we best include our communities in the development of this important strategy.
“This, in no way, takes away from the importance and criticality equality and inclusion does and should have within our organisation.
“In order to provide the best possible service to the public, we must ensure we reflect the communities we serve and have a diversity of lived experience and skills to be the best policing service for all our communities in Wiltshire.
“We will be coming out to communities soon with more information on how they can feed into and shape this strategy.”
Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner Philip Wilkinson said: “My belief is that all voices should be heard and valued.
“I am pleased Wiltshire Police listened to its communities and at the steps it has announced to pause, reflect and engage with more voices and views on this strategy.
“I support diversity as a way of ensuring Wiltshire Police genuinely reflects the communities we serve, strengthening legitimacy and helping us deliver the Police and Crime Plan. However, diversity should be a means to achieving these outcomes – not an end in itself.
“It must also come with the right qualifications and standards. Police officers should be, and are, held to higher professional and personal standards than the general public, so that we can provide the best possible policing service for all our communities in Wiltshire.”
