Meet Nadia Rana; Our new Equality Lead

20 June 2019

Leicestershire Police Federation has a new Equality Lead.

Nadia Rana has taken up the role from Jon Carter-Lang and says she’s hoping to build on his ‘brilliant’ work.

Nadia first joined the force in 2008 as a General Duty officer before joining CAID (Crime and Intelligence Department).

She’s been a Fed Rep for three years and went for it, she said, as she wanted to learn more about what the Federation does for officers.

“It’s a case of helping people. It’s about helping your colleagues, helping your friends. We need to stick together as a family and support each other,” she said.

Nadia wants the force to keep moving with the times to make it as inclusive and accessible as possible.

“You have got to make sure that equality is there, that we are making sure we are adhering to all of those rules and principles for everything else to work - we need to make sure that everything is on a level playing field.

“We’re encouraging people from under-represented groups to join us. Whether it’s disability, all the under-represented groups. We need to make sure that we can then follow that up and give them the support they need,” she added.

In her new role, Nadia is responsible for ensuring that fair and equal opportunities are afforded to everyone wanting to join the force from all backgrounds.

She says that’s an important part of breaking down trust issues that can sometimes be harboured towards the police.

She added: “I don’t want there to be this, ‘you’re in the Asian category, you’re in the black category. You’re in the male category. You’re in the female category’. I feel like it should be, ‘you’re in the police category’. That’s what I want.

“I know it won’t happen with emails and memos; it’s about conversations. I’ve been working with the staff networks, the women’s networks, LGBT + the equality unit, the Christian Association. We’ve got this link, and we can offer support to each other.

“I want officers to think we can go to the Federation because they are in touch with these other support networks.”

Nadia knows her role has even more importance given recent cuts in police resources and numbers.

“There are fewer officers, more workload, higher stress levels, and we’re encouraging people from under-represented groups to join us.

“We need to make sure that we can then follow that up and give them the support that they need – I’m going to have an open door policy!”