The social enterprise, which works with 31 forces throughout England and Wales to find police officers and detectives, has launched the campaign, which centres around a hard-hitting film Change the Story, featuring police sergeant Upile Mtitimila who was stopped and searched several times as a teenager before he joined the force through Police Now in 2016. Also featured in the film are key voices including Lord Simon Woolley, CBE, a trustee of Police Now and the founder of Operation Black Vote, and the social enterprise’s CEO David Spencer.

The people featured in the 60-second film talk about the need to build a police force that “looks like the people it is service, accept that inequalities need addressing, and admit the need to do better”. 

Also showcased are statistics that reveal some of the major challenges policing is facing to win the trust of minority communities as well as drawing attention to injustices faced by those communities, a Police Now statement said.

Police Now has hired 1,500 graduates in England and Wales in the last five years and around a fifth of those starting programmes in 2020-21 are from black, Asian or minority ethnic groups.

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