Representing our communities
First and Best
Our mantra, Primus et Optimus, translates to First and Best.
We’re the oldest county force in the country, established in 1839, known then as Wiltshire Constabulary, and our standards have always been high.
Wiltshire has a diverse history, population and landscape, and our goal is to make sure our staff and officers represent the communities we serve. We want our workforce to reflect all our communities across Wiltshire, so they feel we are a part of them, just as they are of us.
We aim to attract, and retain, the best people with the greatest experience, skills and potential, whether they’ve considered a career in policing before, or not.
There are opportunities for development and progression, wherever your passion in policing lies. We're here to support applications from people from all walks of life.
Becoming a more diverse workforce
Our Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team encourages new applicants from diverse communities and supports employees from underrepresented groups, helping them build their career with us. They give support and guidance throughout the application process to candidates from underrepresented groups. This ensures fairness across the board and helps make opportunities accessible to everyone.
We listen to our staff and officers and encourage open communication. We have regular forums with the Chief Constable and actively promote opportunities to feedback on our goals, ideas and progress. We respect that our people have their own voice and provide opportunities for them to use it.
Shrinking the gender pay gap
We were proud to recently announce in March 2021 that we are the only police force in the country to now employ more women than men taking officer and staff numbers combined, and a 10% in the number of female officers in the last 12 months.
Our latest Gender Pay Gap Report shows that men and women are paid equally at every grade, however there are still more males at senior positions, meaning higher paid roles. Although pleased with these results, we’re committed to shrinking the pay gap even further by attracting more females to senior positions within the Force.
Positive Action
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy has helped us make big strides in improving workforce diversity in recent years, however we are still not fully representative of minority groups.
A police force which reflects its communities is vital to encourage public confidence. It also helps us to understand our multi-cultural communities better, increase productivity and provide adaptability when problem solving.
We carry out Positive Action here in Wiltshire - this is a range of measures and development initiatives employers can lawfully take to help people from underrepresented groups compete for jobs on equal terms with other applicants. For more information, please read our latest Positive Action Plan
Our Positive Action team promotes vacancies and seeks to increase participation in our workforce from protected groups, breakdown community barriers and guide people from underrepresented groups through the recruitment process.
To find out more, please email the team at [email protected]
Disability Confident Leaders
We were proud to become the first police force in the country to achieve the highest level Disability Confident Leader status in the Government's flagship scheme in 2018. In March 2021 we successfully renewed our status, and are firmly committed to ensuring that disabled people have the opportunities to achieve their potential and realise their aspirations.
