Modern Policing in the 21st Century - Time for Inclusive Cultural Shift: A Mixed Methods Study and Strategic Intervention with Merseyside Police

Fitzpatrick, JS ORCID: 0000-0002-6817-589X (2026) Modern Policing in the 21st Century - Time for Inclusive Cultural Shift: A Mixed Methods Study and Strategic Intervention with Merseyside Police. Doctoral thesis, Liverpool John Moores University.

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Abstract

Policing has been through a turbulent period during this study, marked by the publication of the Baroness Casey Review and the Angiolini Enquiry in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, a Panorama exposé on Charing Cross Police Station and the College of Policing's commissioning of a Review into Police Leadership subsequently generated high-profile public interest in organisational cultures within the Policing sector. These reports and the ensuing media interest exposed a significant and harmful organisational culture, prompting the police to carefully consider their next steps to create a better, more inclusive organisational environment.

Furthermore, public interest in organisational development and cultural change has occurred internationally, including the signing of an executive order by President Donald Trump on the 20th January 2025, which ceased equality, diversity, and inclusion training across all federal government departments.

This mixed-methods study examines the effectiveness of neurodiversity support within Merseyside Police and the impact of its organisational change over three years. During the course of this research, I have interviewed 31 officers across the organisation's ranks, conducted four focus groups with different demographics, including policing students at the Merseyside Police Academy and specialist roles, had access to the highest levels of decision-making within the force and a survey which was open for six months in 2024 with a response rate of 130 people across the Response and Resolution and People Services strands.

The force, for the first time, has opened itself to a researcher to understand how it can adapt, innovate, and create positive organisational change, and has given me free rein and access to documentation, committees, data, and personnel to interview. Merseyside Police have also provided me with a laptop, keycard access to sites, and vetting to support this research. I have been in the field for three years, understanding the key challenges in supporting neurodiverse people within the organisation through an insider-outsider approach and by acclimatising through speaking with various points of contact in confidence to understand the organisation's main challenges.

There has been extensive literature on neurodiverse members of the public interacting with police officers. However, there has been little written about the support that officers who are diagnosed or have a diagnosis of neurodiverse conditions from earlier in life receive. This study aimed to evaluate this support within Merseyside Police, as well as the organisational culture, documents, committee structure, and data on neurodiversity within the force, to identify any areas that could be improved for neurodiverse people within the force.

This has provided me with a deep insight into the organisational culture as well as outlining in the findings and discussion chapters crucial recommendations and findings which will hopefully influence the organisational culture of Merseyside Police regarding Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for many years to come, to ensure that people can bring their whole selves to work in a psychologically safe environment. If people bring their whole selves to work and feel comfortable, this can enable organisations to achieve breakthroughs in innovation and creativity. With these safeguards and a positive organisational culture in place, neurodiverse people can work to their full potential and unmask, thereby increasing productivity and organisational effectiveness as well as fostering loyalty and helping people stay with organisations that they feel look after them.

I have also had access to various police forces across the world, including in America, Canada, Europe, and the UK, as well as to UK Government Departments, including the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, the Metropolitan Police, and the UK Counter Terrorism Network. These learnings from best practices and the challenges faced by other organisations have been applied in the thesis to provide a holistic overview of how different departments operate and what could work when used within Merseyside Police.

What will be outlined in the findings and discussion chapters is a new Culture, Inclusion, Public Sector, Human Equity, Educational and Relational (CIPHER) Model for Neurodiversity and EDI support across public sector organisations in the UK, which includes Policing, NHS, Fire and Ambulance Services, to standardise and unify approaches across the UK. This has resulted from time spent with these organisations throughout this study.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Cultural Change; EDI; Inclusion; Neurodiversity; Policing
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General) H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV7231 Criminal Justice Administrations H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology > HV7231 Criminal Justice Administrations > HV7551 Police. Detectives. Constabulary
Divisions:	Education
Date of acceptance:	4 June 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access:	29 June 2026
Date Deposited:	29 Jun 2026 10:34
Last Modified:	29 Jun 2026 10:35
DOI or ID number:	10.24377/LJMU.t.00028854
Supervisors:	Hammond, CA, Finnigan, S and Vickerman, P
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28854

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