Peggy sets out her plans

14 November 2018

Peggy Lamont says she wants to celebrate the diversity of the police service after taking up her post as equality lead for the Police Federation for England and Wales.

Peggy, who has 17 years’ service with West Midlands Police, says she wants to focus on the people in the service.

“It’s not about targets or graphs or percentages,” she said. “It’s about making sure that everyone is afforded a fair chance and an equal opportunity.”

Peggy joins 23 other representatives from across England and Wales as part of the first Police Federation National Board, which is designed to lead and run the Federation and to make policy decisions.

“The most recent workforce figures show that there are 122,404 police officers in England and Wales,” says Peggy, “That’s 122,404 individual people all of whom have their own hopes, fears, dreams and anxieties. Each one has people they love, and people who love them.

“They all occasionally worry they have left the iron on or that they didn’t lock the front door.
And they all happen to be police officers.

“In the past one of the defining characteristics of policing has been uniformity – literally for those on the front-line. But although officers may look the same outside – inside they are unique human beings and that must never be forgotten.

“For me this is what equality is all about.”

Peggy added: “I try to lead by example and I hope others will follow. That is the main reason why I became equality lead for the Police Federation. To help lead and implement positive change throughout the Fed and the service as a whole.

“And to ensure that everyone remembers that, we may all be police officers, but we are individuals first and foremost.”