Black History Month: The HBAPA is having a 'positive and lasting effect' on officers

27 October 2023

The work of the Hertfordshire Black and Asian Police Association (HBAPA) is making positive and lasting differences to officers and to the Force, says its chair Detective Inspector Tony Fontenelle.

Tony said HBAPA has been "reignited" by its successes in recent times, not least by this year’s Black History Month event, which received a record attendance.

Held in Stevenage, more than 160 people attended, the biggest crowd to date for HBAPA’s annual Black History Month event. They included the Chief Constable Charlie Hall, the Police and Crime Commissioner David Lloyd, and Liz Green, the High Sheriff.

Tony said: “In years gone by I’ve seen 20 or 30 people attending and with a handful of HBAPA members in the audience.

The HBAPA’s annual Black History Month event.

“Everyone had put a lot of effort into it, there were some fantastic speakers and the people who should be hearing it weren’t there. It wasn’t good.

“But the organisation listened to us and arranged for HBAPA members to be re-rostered to attend.

“It’s a simple step that took away the pressure of a HBAPA colleague having to ask a supervisor to go to this event especially when we’re so short-staffed.

“And to have representatives from each community safety partnership (CSP), from the race action plan workstream leads, the chief constable, the PCC, the high sheriff, the chief fire officer, Race Inclusion Board (RIB) members - all key stakeholders in Hertfordshire were in attendance and you could feel the buzz and the energy in the room.

“That reignites everyone to say this is why we need to be inclusive and try to do things as best we can.”

Set up in 1998, HBAPA is a support group for ethnic minority police officers and staff. The group aims to harness the experience and expertise of visible ethnic minority staff within Hertfordshire, and strives to improve the working environment, to promote cultural diversity in employment, and to contribute to a changing culture.

Tony’s involvement flowed from his work in counter-terrorism in the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU).

“There was no support structure or network in place for people like me in ERSOU,” he said.

“Myself and a colleague were the instigators in building up the ERSOU support network.

“I got promoted and came to Hertfordshire where I was the highest ranking officer of black heritage.

“People said that because I’d got to that level, and because of the work I’d done within ERSOU that I’d be a good fit as chair.

“I wasn’t sure because I didn’t feel I was that political, and hadn’t had that much involvement with HBAPA previously.

“I felt if we were going to have a conversation then there had to be a purpose to it. There’s no point in wasting time in conversations and meetings if there was no authenticity around it.”

Tony explained that the first thing he aimed to do as chair was make the HBAPA executive committee more diverse.

“With everything we’re striving for, if we only have people with similar lived experiences, who look and think similarly, then they’re going to come to the same decisions,” he said.

HBAPA chair Detective Inspector Tony Fontenelle.

“I wanted the executive committee to be diverse.

“My only stipulation was I wanted people to come on the journey who wanted equality, diversity and inclusion for all.

“We have people of different ethnicities, including white people, on the executive committee and as HBAPA members.

“You need diversity in the decision-making because they will give an alternative viewpoint, and that’s what we encourage.”

The second thing Tony set out to do was “to hold the organisation and decision makers to account”.

“I try to have a balanced viewpoint, but I do ask the question why?,” he explained. “If something hasn’t been done then why not? If it’s reasonable then fair enough, but if it’s because people don’t want to then that’s not good enough.”

Tony said that HBAPA was now engaged more than ever before with the Police Federation branch, and also had representation at all of the Force’s scrutiny panels.

And he spoke of how the HBAPA and Federation worked together to support an officer who was under investigation through the conduct process.

“What history has shown us is that when somebody has been through an investigation process they resign from the organisation,” he said.

“But due to the level of support they received from HBAPA and the Fed, they’ve stayed in the job. “It’s kept one person in the organisation, it’s changed that person’s life.

“If I don’t do anything else, it’s been worth it just for that one person.”

Tony, who was sharing his story with Hertfordshire Police Federation for Black History Month, admitted he hadn’t always wanted to be a police officer.

He explained that growing up and living with his dad’s family - who were originally from St Lucia - “culturally we didn’t have much engagement with the police”.

But after a cousin joined the service and he reached a point in his life where he wanted to find a career, Tony answered an advert he saw for policing.

“The slogan was ‘can you do it?,” he recalled. “I thought ‘yes, I can, so why not?’.”

He admitted he found training school difficult at first.

“I’m a happy go lucky person and can get on with anyone and I thought I’d be okay,” he said.

“I was surrounded by people who weren’t like me, and I don’t just mean in terms of race but in personality.

“I found training school very formal and being away from home was difficult.”

Tony’s experiences have helped inform his role as HBAPA chair.

He’s determined to continue to push for opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds.

And he believes that will help the Force and policing in general when it comes to recruitment and retention of officers.

“For me there’s a lack of diversity in the leadership, and I’m not just talking about ethnicity, though it is getting better in terms of gender,” he said.

“It’s important that communities see representation at the decision-making level.

“It’s all well and good that people like myself do what we’re doing but I’m not a key decision maker. There’s only so much influence I can have.

“If officers look up and don’t see any opportunity for progression and feel how I felt when I first joined, it’s so easy for them to say this isn’t for me and to move on.

“Whereas if they see someone similar to themselves progressing, they think if that person can do it then I might be able to do it and that goes a long way towards retention.

“And if the community starts seeing how diverse the service is, then others will follow naturally and part of our recruitment work will be done for us.”

Hertfordshire Police Federation chair Luke Mitchell said there was a determination in the branch for it to keep improving and to evolve to reflect the Force as a whole.

He said: “I’m really pleased that not just the police service but the Federation is doing as much as possible to support our colleagues from diverse backgrounds.

“Hertfordshire police is becoming far more diverse and ethnic minority officers are starting to navigate into senior roles. There’s still lots to do, but we are making progress and there is a want to constantly getting better.

“Hertfordshire Federation are working hard with all our support groups to ensure the force and we get things right, and I’m pleased these efforts have been noticed.

“Having worked with Tony and HBAPA on a few incidents, we were able to raise concerns at the highest level possible, be listened to, taken seriously and either action or answers provided.

“We still need to ensure our Federation reps reflect our Force because we do lack female officers and officers from diverse backgrounds.

“I hope to run elections shortly so please contact me if you’re interested.”