In recent years, policing organisations across the UK have invested significant time and resources into awareness training on bullying, sexual harassment, discrimination, racism, and professional standards. Such training is important. It helps establish expectations, clarifies unacceptable behaviour, and demonstrates organisational commitment to ethical policing. Yet despite this investment, inquiries, misconduct investigations, whistleblowing reports, and media … Continue reading Beyond Awareness: Why Training Alone Will Not Break a Culture of Silence in Policing
The Heroic Imagination: Why Waiting for Heroes Is Not Enough
In the days, weeks and months after my dad’s suicide in 2008, one question kept me awake at night. Could I have said something that might have helped? Looking back, I was unprepared for dealing with someone struggling with his mental health. If there is a central theme to my work now it is the … Continue reading The Heroic Imagination: Why Waiting for Heroes Is Not Enough
Start Small, See Clearly: Why Limited Action Is Often the Best First Response
“Graham, why, when I intervened did, I get a punch in the face?” The above is a question I get asked a lot when I’m delivering active bystandership training. You may laugh but behind this question is a reality for many who have intervened after witnessing a harmful situation. It may be that they observed … Continue reading Start Small, See Clearly: Why Limited Action Is Often the Best First Response
The ‘Hidden Power’ in the room – Henry Nowak and the Importance of Peer Intervention in Policing
The tragic case of Henry Nowak has prompted significant discussion about police decision-making, assumptions, and accountability. Much of that discussion has focused on the actions of individual officers. Yet one of the most important lessons may lie elsewhere: the role of peer intervention. Reports from the incident suggest that while officers were dealing with Henry, … Continue reading The ‘Hidden Power’ in the room – Henry Nowak and the Importance of Peer Intervention in Policing
When Strength Becomes Silence: Masculinity Contest Cultures, Policing and the Power of Active Bystandership
Policing needs to talk more about its men. In likes of policing and other male dominated workplaces 'Masculinity Contest Cultures' play out daily. These are environments where men feel pressure to prove toughness, dominance and endurance. Vulnerability and help seeking are viewed as weakness. Unhealthy competition is the outcome. Left unchecked such contests work to … Continue reading When Strength Becomes Silence: Masculinity Contest Cultures, Policing and the Power of Active Bystandership
