Graeme Davids - "To make a positive change, you have to be part of the solution."

Even though there were a lot of high points within Graeme's career there were also some challenging times; in the earlier years of his service there was a great deal of racial discrimination. Hurtful comments about the colour of Graeme's skin were a standing joke for a number of officers at that time and unfortunately were justified as 'banter' and 'helping Graeme to develop the thick skin' required when walking the streets as a police officer.

 

Graeme said: “To make a positive change, you have to be part of the solution. Build your career, aim for those high profile roles and be a visible representation which will encourage others of a BAME background to follow suit.”

In 1982, Graeme Davids began his career with the police at the age of 27 after redundancies in his field of engineering were rife and he had a young family to support.

Graeme decided on a change in direction to ensure that his next role would provide the job security he and his family needed.

His parents and three older siblings left South Africa in 1951, as the apartheid made life increasingly difficult for those defined as 'coloured'. The young family made their journey to the UK by ship and settled in Newcastle upon Tyne with Graeme arriving in 1954 and in 1961 the family moved to Loughborough due to his father’s employment as a carpenter.

Graeme’s policing career is certainly one to be admired. Over his 30 years with the force he built up a vast accolade of achievements, many of them being 'the first BAME officer to...'

Graeme is believed to be the first officer from a BAME background to be an authorised firearms officer (AFO), a role he maintained for 22 of his 30 years’ service, he was the first BAME officer within the tactical firearms unit (TFU), and the first BAME officer in special branch where he spent the last 16 years of his working life.

Even though there were a lot of high points within Graeme's career there were also some challenging times; in the earlier years of his service there was a great deal of racial discrimination. Hurtful comments about the colour of Graeme's skin were a standing joke for a number of officers at that time and unfortunately were justified as 'banter' and 'helping Graeme to develop the thick skin' required when walking the streets as a police officer.

Graeme felt that he had something to prove, to show that he was worthy of doing his role and therefore would always go above and beyond what was expected. Graeme said: “Consequently, it seemed that in order to be treated equally I had to somehow be better than others.”

However, as time went on, Graeme earned respect from all levels of the force as well as the community he served, the roles he got promoted to spoke volumes in the positive message it sent to others of a BAME background. He speaks fondly of the achievements he made during his policing career and the impact it had on others.

He said: “I used to feature in the forces official corporate video about TFU training and on several subsequent occasions I was spoken to by BAME officers who indicated that seeing me in that film helped inspire them to apply and join the job!

“I felt very proud to hear that I'd had such a positive influence on others.”

As time went on, it became clear that Graeme had not let his earlier experiences cast a shadow over the positives picked up along the way. He acknowledges the positives outweigh the negatives, and in time mind-sets were changed, the force grew to be more inclusive and a highlight was the creation of Leicestershire Police’s Black Police Association (BPA) in 1995. This was a significant step forward that brought the message home about how far officers from BAME backgrounds had come.

Graeme wishes there had been something similar in the early part of his career but knowing there is such a network now provides reassurance of the level of support available to today's BAME officers.

When asked what Black History Month means to him, Graeme said: “It recognises that many people from a variety of BAME backgrounds are included in our national community. We all have our own histories and many are entwined with Britain through Commonwealth connections, those histories are acknowledged during this month and it celebrates the diversity within our population.”

Advice Graeme would give to a young BAME adult considering a career within the police is to understand the relevance of being from an ethnic minority background. He said: “The police service should ideally be a reflection of the community that it seeks to serve and protect. Leicestershire has a proudly diverse population so it needs suitable recruits to wear the badge and proudly represent their community within an inclusive organisation.

“To make a positive change, you have to be part of the solution. Build your career, aim for those high profile roles and be a visible representation which will encourage others of a BAME background to follow suit.”

It is difficult for Graeme to identify one particular career highlight as there were so many.

He always took pride in being a member of the TFU and accepted the great responsibility that came with the role. Whilst in special branch he was involved in many deployments on a regional and national level, but the most memorable was an attachment to New Scotland Yard in 2005 for the London bombings, possibly the largest scale police investigation ever in this country.