In Search of Diversity: An Embodied Account of Police Leadership

This chapter focuses on the composition and culture of police leadership. With policing traditionally characterised by clearly defined ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups, police leadership remains a domain occupied by white men. Different times, however, call for different people. The new policing landscape requires an altogether different kind of police leader, not only in skills and orientation but also in composition. Focusing on the embodied dimensions of race and gender, this chapter critically explores the concept of diversity within policing. In an attempt to understand the ongoing unrepresentativeness of police leadership, the chapter explores the parallel processes of inclusion and exclusion within policing through an appreciation of some of the more cultural aspects that have shaped understandings of police leadership and diversity. Through identifying both the enablers and the disablers of diversity within policing, at the heart of this chapter is a critical reflection of change over time.