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ME Network consults for D&G Police Equality Scheme

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the summer the Network was invited to consult with Dumfries and Galloway

Constabulary on their Disability Equality Scheme, which they have been required by law to

publish by December.  Denis, a former policeman himself, asked several members, who attended the plush police headquarters in Dumfries in September.

 

 During the meeting our suggestions were noted and added to the other groups’ who were also invited to contribute.  The main considerations in the draft Disability Scheme document are better staff awareness of individual disabilities, clearer communication, and enforcement of the blue parking badge scheme.  Work is ongoing to make police stations as accessible as possible with facilities such as wheelchair ramps, automatically opening doors, lowered desks and

installation of Loop hearing systems.

 

 Also discussed during the meeting was employment of a person with M.E., either due to an

existing employee becoming ill or a sufferer applying for a job.  It was pointed out by us that there were very few police jobs that an M.E. sufferer could do, and as with all fatigue illnesses reliability could be a big problem.  The Diversity Officer suggested that part-time

administrative work might be suitable and the job of monitoring Dumfries’s CCTV cameras, which is currently reserved for the disabled.

 

 An interesting statistic taken from the document is, according to the 2001 Census, of D&G’s population of 147,000 over 20% - 30,460 have a limiting illness.  This is a figure that is

mentioned more than once in the draft scheme, so is a figure the police are obviously taking note of.

 

 To tell you the truth the draft policy document is difficult to read. Not as you might expect because it is not written in plain English - it is - but because it is so dull it’s difficult not to lose consciousness!  To save you the effort of reading all 94 pages of this document, basically it can be boiled down to: D&G Constabulary aims not to discriminate against disabled people.  Although laudable the effort and police man hours that have gone into creating this document must be very high, and the contents are already covered by the current Disability Discrimination Act and plain common sense.  Should you wish to read it you can find it at www.dumfriesandgalloway.police/diversity or you can wait for a summary of the scheme to be made available.        

 

                                                Craig Woods