Lancs officer highlights her work on International Women's Day

11 March 2024

A Lancashire Police officer who designed a course to get more women into frontline operational roles has been celebrated on International Women’s Day last week.

Lucy Walton, former winner of an Outstanding Woman in Policing award, spoke at the Police Federation of England and Wales International Women’s Day Conference on Friday (8 March).

Lucy loved her job in public order, but in 2020 she realised that the Method of Entry (MOE) training package was disadvantaging women, leaving them with a high failure rate. So she committed herself to establishing what the problems were, and came up with solutions to make the role more accessible for women.

Lucy told the conference: “I started to question that failure rate. The feedback from female officers is that they were worried about their strength, they were intimidated about the environment they were coming into and they didn’t want the stigma of failing.”

She found that changes such as the introduction of smaller tools and changes to entry techniques improved things for female officers and introduced a female-only MOE training course.

She said: “I firmly believe every response officer should be able to be Method of Entry trained, because that’s what we do isn’t it; we go out there to serve people, to protect people, and to save life and limb, ultimately.”

The conference was shown video of Lucy in action; breaking down doors and removing persistent protester from a barrel. She told the conference that she had faced obstacles across her 17 years’ service, but that she hasn’t let it phase her.

She added: “I’ve had some tough times, but that makes you a bit stronger. As you get older, you become more willing to have a go at things. And that’s what I want to instil in others. Have a go. And if it’s not for you, at least you know you can put it to bed. And if it is, and if you don’t do it first time, we’ll work with you. Because I want to see people achieve, that’s why I do what I do.”