Maike Gieling now officially a professor at the Netherlands Police Academy

With an impressive inaugural address, Maike Gieling today officially took up her professorship at the Netherlands Police Academy. Maike is a professor for Diversity and Diverse Professionalism. The Diversity and Diverse Professionalism research group falls under the Centre of Knowledge People and the Police Organisation. In her address, Maike told the story of her mother, who started work with the police in the late 1970s, one of the first women to undertake patrol duties.

‘Since I’ve been working on the topic of diversity and the police, I’ve viewed my mother’s choices and experiences in a new light’, Maike explained. ‘For instance, as a child I always took it for granted that she worked for the police. But for that time, it was actually an unusual choice. When she fell pregnant, she had to leave her job, because there were no rules for working mothers. Luckily she did eventually come back to the police.’

Diversity is all part of the picture

That personal story, Maike feels, is a good illustration of how important it is for the police to move with the times. ‘We need to be able to use everybody’s qualities to the full.’ In her address, she explored this further. ‘Diversity is not an optional extra. It’s part of society and the organisation. Dealing with diversity is an integral part of the police’s work.’

‘Policing isn’t merely a matter of knowledge and rules’, she said. ‘It’s also about the experiences and qualities that you, as an individual, bring to your work. And how you use them in your work. It’s important that you and your colleagues talk about what “good policing” is.’

What is good policing?

‘In your day-to-day work you’re constantly making choices, and you may face dilemmas. For example, do you give someone a ticket, or a warning? And if you don’t have enough people or time, which cases do you take on, and which not? It’s in situations like these that it’s important to talk about “good policing”’, Maike said. ‘It’s important to realise that your choices are sometimes subconsciously influenced by your own opinions.’

‘That’s why developing a professional identity is an important part of police training. Students don’t only learn knowledge and skills. They also learn how to operate justly, fairly, and respectfully in a diverse society.’

Various perspectives

An important part of this is diverse professionalism: the ability to view situations from various perspectives. ‘A good police officer understands that everyone views the world differently. And that police officer tries to put themselves in the other person’s shoes’, Maike explained. ‘It calls for self-reflection, self-knowledge, and an openness to learn. This will enable the police to respond better to differences in society.’

‘At the same time, it’s very important that we continue to operate on the basis of our shared values as the police. Lecturers and practical supervisors have an important role to play here’, Maike added. ‘Lecturers help students to reflect on their behaviour and also teach them to make good choices and to get better at their job.’ Maike calls for an environment in which students, lecturers, and researchers learn together and work together. ‘Then the Netherlands Police can continue to grow, as a fair, inclusive, and trustworthy organisation.’

Restoring trust

Another important topic of Maike’s address was exclusion and discrimination. Her research explores how the police deal with reports about this within the organisation. ‘We mustn’t focus just on the perpetrator, or the rule that has been broken’, Maike stressed. ‘It’s also about what needs to be done to restore trust. Both the officer who makes the report and their colleague who is accused of discrimination must be able to trust that they will be treated fairly. At the same time, it’s important to take a close look at the entire situation.’

Over the coming years, Maike’s mission is to strive for a safe and fair police organisation for all. ‘In carrying out their hard and intense duties, police officers must be able to trust in each other and in the organisation as a whole.’ In conclusion, she called on her colleagues to embark on their own research – not with figures or statistics, but by taking a critical look at themselves. ‘Engaging with diversity starts not with the other, but with yourself. And of course that applies to me too’, she concluded.