Celebrating International Women’s Day

This year is North Wales Police’s 50^th anniversary and we’re marking this special occasion with a number of celebrations throughout 2024. This year for International Women’s Day on 8^th March we want to highlight some of the amazing women we have, and have had, working with us to highlight how policing has changed and progressed over the years.

Sarah and Chris Gunning are mother and daughter with 63 years of policing experience between them.

Chris began her 44-year Policing career as a Cadet back in 1978 before joining as a Police officer in 1979 following the Sex Discrimination Act 1975. This act of Parliament, which protected men and women from discrimination on the grounds of sex or marital status, paved the way for the modern Policing we see today. When Chris joined as a PC, there were no female officers in specialist roles and the highest rank a female officer could progress to was Superintendent.

Their uniform was strictly skirts and black tights, complete with a small handbag to hold their truncheons. Later, female officers were issued with trousers, only to be worn at night. A stark difference Chris says, to the full PPE equipment her daughter Sarah is issued with for modern day policing.

In 1986 Chris found out she was expecting Sarah and with no flexible working arrangements available at that time, resigned from North Wales Police to raise her family. In 1993 Chris returned to work for North Wales Police on a temporary basis, as Police support staff converting paper-based child at risk reports, which had previously been held within local offices, onto a force computerised system. Chris has seen a big change over the years in the ability to share information not only within North Wales Police but with other agencies and Police forces.

In 1999 Chris began her second Policing career within the Fingerprint Bureau before becoming a Crime Scene Investigator in 2004. With forensics always being her biggest passion, Chris flourished within the department and moved into various supervisory roles including Forensic Quality Manager in 2017.

Chris retired from North Wales Police in 2022 and is now working as a Technical Assessor in the United Kingdom Accreditation Service to inspect Police forces nationally, ensuring forensic quality accreditation within crime scene investigation.

Chris said “I have had the honour of working with some fantastic people. North Wales Police is fortunate to have such strong and motivated female officers and support staff in many amazing roles. Policing has changed beyond recognition from when I started as a fresh-faced Cadet, and it is so inspiring to see so many female senior officers and support staff managers. So, my message to all female staff is to be proud of who you are and never let anyone tell you that you can’t do it.”

 

Chris’ daughter Sarah joined North Wales Police as a Police Officer at the age of 19 on response in Denbigh. She worked across the Denbighshire Coastal area in various response and Neighbourhood Policing roles before passing both her CID and Sergeant’s exam in 2019.

Sarah became a Detective Constable and moved to CID in early 2020. She later moved into the Protecting Vulnerable People Unit in 2021, as a Detective Constable within Child Protection. Within this role, Sarah was responsible for investigating serious crimes committed against children. Following this, Sarah had a period as an acting Sergeant within the Domestic Abuse team.

In 2022, Sarah was successful in her promotion board and became a Sergeant, moving back to response policing in Colwyn Bay during early 2023. During this time, she supervised a rota of response officers and managed the busy daily operational policing for the West Conwy district.

Sarah began a temporary role within the Central Referral Unit in February 2024 where she works currently. Sarah’s busy role involves the safeguarding of vulnerable people and children, strategy discussions with Social Services and sharing referrals with partner agencies that work closely with the Police.

Sarah said “As a working Mum, I am grateful for the support from North Wales Police in enabling me to pursue my career. I appreciate that this support was not available to my Mum during her career as a Police officer which goes to show how far we have come as an organisation. In addition to my responsibilities, I am also a maternity, adoption, and paternity mentor, supporting new parents.

The organisation has progressed so much that there are now numerous opportunities for both female and male Police officers to progress throughout the ranks and achieve their full potential.”

These amazing and varied careers show us just how far Policing has come in the last 50 years since North Wales Police was formed, and how much progress has been made to represent women in Policing. We hope especially with the influence of our first female Chief Constable, that we continue to see women excel within North Wales Police for years to come.