Anti-racism training package for officers and staff

The aim of the anti-racism training is to:

• develop anti-racism awareness and knowledge
• deliver on the chief constable’s objective of becoming an inclusive service free from racism
• recognise problematic terminology used within policing and the community
• identify overt and covert forms of racism and consider how they may come across in different forms
• identify personal privilege and identify common misconceptions

The intended outcomes of the anti-racism training are to:

• increase the workforce’s confidence in addressing racism
• increase the workforce’s awareness on types of bias and how these relate to the workplace
• increase the workforce’s confidence in challenging unacceptable behaviours

In May 2022, during the Bayoh inquiry the former chief constable made a statement on racism and policing in Scotland, highlighting their commitment to being an anti-racist service. Following a further statement in 2023 labelling the service as institutionally racist and discriminatory, Police Scotland introduced anti-racism training. 

Planning process

In May 2024, a procurement process was conducted with the force opening a tender process via the Public Contract Scotland for suppliers to complete their training bid. During this process, Mission Diverse (diversity trainers and inclusion consultancy) were selected to design, deliver, and evaluate the training. The procurement bid was approved by senior management.

In July 2024, the learning and training department conducted a recruitment process for eight equality, diversity and inclusion training officers. Through this process four training officers, three external workers, and one internal training staff member were recruited.

Mission Diverse delivered training to the four training officers both face to face and online to ensure readiness to deliver the course content.

Anti-racism training

Police Scotland is delivering the one-day face to face training to the whole workforce. Invited partners from Scottish Government and Police Scotland’s Professional Reference Group have observed the training.

To develop the course and meet delivery demands during the six-month pilot phase, vetted staff from Mission Diverse also delivered training. The pilot phase included delivering training to officers and staff from:

• Policing Together
• equality, diversity and inclusion department
• professional standards department
• staff associations
• federated associations
• trade unions 

After the pilot phase, the training has been rolled out to the whole of the force’s workforce.

The contents of the training includes:

• what is race and racism
• types of racism
• bias
• intersectionality
• white privilege
• white fragility
• inclusive and exclusive terminology
• micro-aggressions
• allyship

The initiative required funding which came from within the Police Scotland budget. The training programme is still being delivered and will continue to do so to capture all officers and staff within the organisation.

Recruitment and management of Mission Diverse was initially overseen by the learning training department, before being transferred in April 2025 to the Policing Together team.

An evaluation is ongoing and being led by Police Scotland’s insights and engagement department. During the pilot phase, each officer and staff was asked to provide feedback after the training, to monitor learning and the impact of the program. The feedback was reviewed and identified several learning opportunities that have been incorporated into the training.

Following the pilot, the anti-racism training is now being delivered across the whole of the force. The workforce’s feedback is captured via an online survey on Citizen Space accessed via a QR code. 

The survey consists of nine questions:

• questions one to six – the workforce are asked to rate their learning from statements on each topic within the training, from strongly disagree through to strongly agree.
• questions seven to nine – the workforce are asked open questions to allow further reflection and feedback

The evaluation captured through this process is analysed and discussed with members of the Policing Together earning oversight group.

• to date, over 2,300 officers and staff have received the training
• by using case studies and exercises, the training encourages the workforce to interact as a group through reflection and reasoning
• the workforce have welcomed the in-person training as it enables them to discuss the topics in-depth and in a safe environment

• It is important during the implementation process to identify suitable venues that are accessible to the whole workforce.
• Some of the workforce initially felt uncomfortable with elements of the topics covered, however by the end of the training they felt more confident to understand institutional racism and discrimination and report unacceptable behaviours.
• It is essential to have open and consistent communication between the trainers, Mission Diverse and internal departments to support the implementation of the training.
• Throughout the development process, Police Scotland consulted with the professional standards department, the Police Federation, trade unions, and staff associations to identify relevant case studies.