POLICING WITH A DIFFERENCE


Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick attends the Jewish Police Association pre-Chanukah party POLICING WITH A DIFFERENCE We have built trust with the orthodox Jewish community


From supporting Jewish police ofcers to helping solve an international missing person investigation, Sophie Garrod speaks to the Jewish Police Association about the fascinating work it does.


I


f somebody told you a police staff association helped with solving an international missing person


investigation, would you believe them? Well, this is precisely what the Jewish


Police Association (JPA) achieved, saving precious police time and resources as a result. Detective Inspector Nicholas


Goldwater, who heads the JPA while juggling his full-time role within the Metropolitan Police, explains the main aims of the organisation are to support Jewish police officers and promote knowledge and understanding of the faith within the police service. DI Goldwater, who works alongside


the JPA secretary Sergeant Imogen Hirst, said: “One of our many areas of work is helping more observant officers with any issues surrounding flexible working as they observe the Sabbath which begins at nightfall on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday and where no work is permitted. We also assist colleagues with any queries they may have around Judaism and the Jewish community and have a wide range of community partners who are always willing to help. “We were able to locate a missing


person from Israel because we have built a trusted relationship with the orthodox Jewish community. Once we spoke to


members within the community, they used internal networks to spread the word. It saved a huge amount of police time and resources.” Sgt Hirst also recently assisted the


Met’s Public Order Command during May’s pro-Palestine marches in London by providing briefing documents on how to identify isolated incidents of antisemitism. DI Goldwater has been the chair of


the JPA for three years and joined the Met in 2006. He currently works in the Central South Criminal Investigations Department. Sgt Hirst joined the organisation in January 2015 and works in the West Area BCU operations room. Both work on a voluntary basis to


promote knowledge and understanding on Jewish matters but have also been working hard to boost recruitment as the Government’s plans to take on an extra 20,000 officers continues. Jews are massively under-represented


in the police service. As of January 2020, there were 117 declared Jewish police officers in the Met, 28 women and 89 men. But to truly represent and reflect


the communities in the capital, there should be approximately 800 in the Met, according to DI Goldwater and Sgt Hirst. By engaging with communities, they


hope to attract more Jewish people into the service. Recently they attended the Maccabi GB Community Fun Run – a large Jewish event in the UK – and they frequently visit schools to talk about career days as well as being involved in a mentoring programme for sixth formers. “We are getting more and more


Jewish people joining the Met and other police forces across the country which is a promising start, and our membership is increasing in the JPA,” DI Goldwater said. When asked about the situation with


recruiting female Jewish officers, Sgt Hirst replied: “Over the last couple of years, we are getting more and more come in through the uplift programme, however, they are under-represented – but females are under-represented in policing anyway. We should be making up more than half of the workforce as we make up half the population, but we don’t.” Sgt Hirst continued: “I speak


Hebrew, and I never thought I would get the opportunity to use it in my role. It has been rewarding and being a representative can take you down avenues never anticipated and give you the chance to meet amazing people.” DI Goldwater added: “It is so


important we have an association which assists our colleagues in many different ways, including linking them up with community partners, and the results can be so rewarding.”


Members of the JPA engage with the community at the Maccabi Fun Run


43 I POLICE I OCTOBER 2021


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