Chief Superintendent Manjit Atwal retires after distinguished career

How many police officers do you know who have featured in an exhibition about Ladybird books and one at the Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre; been the chair of two staff networks; been a hostage negotiator for 12 years; climbed Snowdon, the Three Peaks Challenge and Light the Lakes with her work colleagues; been named Probationer of the Year; Beat Bobby of the Year, Civil Servant of the Year Award and been awarded the Queen’s Police Medal for Distinguished Service (QPM)?

Only one person – Chief Superintendent Manjit Atwal who is retiring after 28 years in the force.

To list everything that Manjit has achieved in her career would fill a book so it is only possible to capture a few highlights.

Manjit joined the police in 1996. She had moved to Leicestershire from Derbyshire following an arranged marriage and had two small children.  She had originally planned to go into nursing and got into Leicester Nursing School but, due to culture clashes with the family she married into, she was unable to take up the post.

However, after going to a police recruitment event with a friend she had a new plan.

“The recruiting sergeant asked me how I was going to cope on night shifts with two young children and that just make me more determined to prove that I could do it.  In those days you did 15 weeks at Ryton followed by a week in the community which involved spending a day at a funeral-directors, a children’s home, the ambulance service, fire brigade and a day visiting religious establishments across the city including a temple, church, gurdwara and synagogue.

“I honestly think that week was brilliant - it gave me a great understanding about the work of so many other agencies which I found useful throughout my career.” 

Manjit was one of the first Sikh woman to work for the force and retires as one of the highest-ranking Sikh female police officers in the UK. She is currently on secondment to the College of Policing where she is the Strategic Lead for Violence Against Women and Girls and Op Soteria - the national programme to improve the police service’s response to rape and serious sexual offences.

She continued; “I have always thought the Sikh beliefs of equality, honesty, humility and ‘seva,’ which means service, are the same as the principals at the heart of policing and are the reasons for the success of my police career and my wider engagement across our diverse communities.  I have always supported the progression of female police officers and staff, as well as those from Black and minority ethnic communities, and male colleagues across policing locally and nationally.

So what are her career highlights?

“The job I enjoyed the most was when I was the NPA commander in the city.  Being at Mansfield House showed me what it really means to be in a police family. We were such a great team, including the cleaner, local officers and members of staff – everyone had a real desire to do right by the people of LLR.  What is unique about the city is that it is visited by people from every NPA. I used to go into the city and hold ‘meet your inspector’ events and would then feedback any issues from our visiting communities to the relevant NPA commanders. 

“I also got to be involved in so many cultural events from Diwali to Pride to the Carribean Carnival – that role gave me everything I wanted in policing.  I was part of the team that secured purple flag status for the city which was quite an achievement (we finally got there Mr Streets!) The city tested you in so many ways around safeguarding, night time economy and criminality – I really look back on my time there with fondness.”

Manjit may be the only police officer in the country who had to break up an argument live on BBC television.  She was being interviewed by BBC East Midlands Today in the city centre when an altercation broke out behind her between two street entertainers – Manjit had to stop the interview and step in to stop a fight breaking out! One of them was dressed head to toe in silver so it made quite interesting television!

Manjit is chair of Leicestershire’s Sikh Police Association raising awareness of the faith in force and supporting other Sikh colleagues and she is also chair of the Women’s Inclusive Network (WIN) and was instrumental in setting up the Keep in Touch (KiT) days supporting officers and staff on maternity and paternity leave.  “I am really proud of how the KiT days have gone from strength to strength over the last six years and seeing the lecture theatre get fuller every time and I know they will continue to grow and support many others long after I have left.

“When I started at Welford Road, I was a General Duties Officer or GDO.  I was given the choice of a skirt or culottes and I had a handbag with a small truncheon.  We had brown pocket books, which the sergeant would randomly check, and we had ticket books with carbon paper in them so that if you wrote on the top copy it appeared on the sheet underneath as well – they were known as ‘pinks.’  

“I was blessed with a brilliant first sergeant – Gary Watts – he was brilliant and I learnt so much from him. I’ll never forget him.”

“In my career I have been able to do so many things.  I struggled to pass my inspectors exams at first  so I was a sergeant for 12 years.  In that time I worked as the deputy at Wigston, a staff officer to the Chief Officer Team, I went to EMSOU, FIB and on response and trained to be a negotiator.

As I leave, I reflect on a fullfilling police career where I have worked with some exceptional officers and staff including forensics, admin support, analysts, comms teams and CMD staff – they have always had my back so I have always strived to support police staff and officers who are younger in service than me, especially those from underrepresented groups.  I have made so many friends for life.  If you’d told me when I joined all those years ago that I’d be a chief superintendent, I wouldn’t have believed you.

So what now?

“My daughter lives in America with my two grandsons so I am looking forward to spending more time with them, I am going to look for some voluntary opportunities at Derby City Hospital and I want to do some more walking including the moon walk for breast cancer but I am also going to take some time to rest.” 

“I want to thank my two adult children, my son Sandeep and my daughter Corinne, and my wider family including my late parents.  I would like to thank them for being on the journey with me and their support with my career.

“My last piece of advice is don’t be pressured into doing what others want you to do, do what is right for you and always remember why you joined – to deliver the best service to the communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and give them trust and confidence in policing.”

Detective Superintendent Chris Baker said: “Manjit and I joined the negotiator cadre together in 2012 and over the years she’s had many deployments to a vast array of incidents including kidnaps, sieges, people in crisis and protests including the closure of the M1 for more than 24 hours in 2016.

Manjit has given her heart and soul to negotiating and has no doubt saved many lives over the years. She’s the archetypal negotiator:  kind, warm-hearted, compassionate and a wonderful listener, attributes that make her one of the best people to have at your side when you’re on a freezing bridge or car park in the middle of the night.

“She’ll be greatly missed by all of us in the negotiator family, not just here in Leicestershire but across the country where she has made friends for life. I’ll especially miss her as a fellow Derby County supporter … well no-one’s perfect!

“Manjit, go and enjoy the next chapter of your amazing life and enjoy those sleep-filled night with the phone switched off!”

Chief Constable Rob Nixon QPM said; “I have had the pleasure of working with Manjit across her entire service. It has been a privilege to see her grow and develop in different roles and ranks. She is an individual who makes a difference and puts her all into everything she does.

“We are immensely proud of her and all she has achieved and she will be deeply missed. She has certainly made her mark on policing and her legacy will live on in so many ways as she enters the next chapter. Thank you Manjit.”