Women and birthing people who experience pregnancy and beyond may face individual challenges when working in different occupational groups. In this article Keri Alldritt, midwife and Detective Sergeant for Greater Manchester Police, explains some of the issues facing women in the police and points to how midwives may support.
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The police service in the UK historically has been patriarchal, although over more recent years with the introduction of the Police Uplift (Gov.co.uk, 2023) the gender gap is lessening. It is important to reflect on the history of policing to understand where it is now. An article within a newspaper published when Sir Phillip Game was the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police (1935-1945) advertised for women to join the police – within the advert “Married Women need not apply”. There were also restrictions on age and a minimum height. This, we now acknowledge as a society is discrimination. Thankfully the police service has moved on, but it is important to understand history. Within the last two years 34% of women in the police service surveyed had been off on maternity leave (Wright et al, 2023); this means pregnancy and maternity within policing is ever present and, with the increase in female officers, these figures will naturally rise.
Becoming a mother is a mixture of emotions; throw into the mix shift work and traumatic incidents will be some of the struggles facing new mothers when returning to work. The Police Federation of England & Wales published statistics showing police officers are exposed to between 400-600 traumatic events within their career compared to members of the public who on averaged will experience 4 (PFEW, 2021). Research undertaken by Miller at al (2021) found that around one in five officers who have been exposed to trauma have PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). The College of Policing (2023) have now developed a toolkit to help support those within policing. This is hugely important for midwives caring for police officers or staff who are pregnant in order to give individualised care to women, having knowledge of their occupation and an awareness of the trauma they are potentially exposed, or have been exposed to, should assist in knowing support that can be offered.
For years support for new mothers, either police officers or staff has been inconsistent from force to force and sometimes within a police force. When a female police officer or staff chooses to tell her line manager she is pregnant, there are procedures to follow. Like all employers, there is an expectation under the Health & Safety at Work Act to reduce the risk to that women and her unborn baby. Within policing, especially if the officer is operational – this will mean restrictions. There can be a stigma around officers being restricted or non-operational and a lot of guilt from women as they may feel they aren’t helping or part of their team – this can lead to women feeling isolated.
Officers start their maternity leave and soon enough return to work. At the moment there is no phased return nationally agreed, although a small number of forces are starting to trial this as it has been hugely beneficial. Research by Wright et al (2023) has explored the barriers facing female police officers and staff when looking at maternity and policing. Some of the participant feedback showed barriers with women and promotions after they have been off on maternity leave.
In order to improve the care and support given to police officers and staff and overcome barriers within the service there have been a number of new support groups and guidance documents written. I have been fortunate enough to be part of the national family support working group. Recently we published guidance through the NPCC (National Police Chiefs Council), which you can read here Family-Support-Guidance-NPCC-Document-v2-ONLINE-VERSION.pdf (bawp.org). This document aligns to the midwifery values of women centred care. We also have a network of officers and staff in a national working group and locally lead maternity groups within forces. Our national peer support group Blue Bumps & Babies launched its first national newsletter in March 2023 and our sister group supporting perinatal mental health is Blue Minds which is lead by Jen Sharpling in the Metropolitan Police. I have also recently co-founded the National Police Breastfeeding network to support women returned to work choosing to breastfeed. All of our support groups are run by officers and staff who support others in their own time in addition to their daily job role in policing. Please make contact if you would like further information on helping those experiencing pregnancy in the Police service.
Keri Alldritt RM
(Detective Sergeant)
About me…
My name is Keri Alldritt, I am a detective sergeant working full time in Greater Manchester Police and am also a registered midwife. I maintain my midwifery registration by the work I do within education and by providing care and support to police officers and staff. I have written national maternity guidance which can be found within the national family support document. I am the founder of our national peer support group Blue Bumps & Babies and am co-founder of the National Police Breastfeeding Network.
References
College of Policing (2021) responding-to-trauma-in-policing.pdf (college.police.uk) retrieved 25/03/23
Gov.co.uk (2023) Police officer uplift, England and Wales, quarterly update to 30 September 2022 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) Retrieved 26/03/23
Miller, J.K., Brewin, C.R., Soffia, M., Elliott-Davies, M., Burchell, B.J., Peart, A. (2021) The development of a UK Police Traumatic Events Checklist. The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles https://doi.org/10.1177/0032258X211002597
Police Federation of England & Wales (2021) Capture Data On Traumatic Incidents (polfed.org)
Wright, K., Duddin, K., Bell, S., Wright, F., (2023), Are Forces Past Their Due Date? Examining The Impact of Pregnancy, Maternity Leave & Returning To Work On Women In Policing. The Open University & Centre for Policing Research & Learning. https://www.open.ac.uk/centres/policing/research/theme-4-health-wellbeing-and-resilience/409-are-forces-past-their-due-date-impact-mothers