Netherlands Police Academy appoints Maike Gielings as Lecturer in Diversity and Diverse Professionalism

‘Police for everyone’ is an important topic in the 2025-2030 police strategy. The police aim to be an organization of police officers equipped with various skills. This goes beyond knowledge of different groups, lifestyles and cultures in society alone. It also includes critical assessment of your own actions.

On 1 March, the Police Academy appointed Maike Gieling as Lecturer in Diversity and Diverse Professionalism to strengthen these points. ‘Policing takes place in a diverse society. This is why police officers must have a number of different skills,’ says Maike. ‘In police training we call this diverse professionalism. It means that we are aware of our own view on matters and our preconceptions and how these influence our work.’

‘It is about being able to (temporarily) set aside your judgement, being open to other opinions, and collaborating with a variety of people, also when their opinions differ from your own. The eventual objective is that we use people’s varying insights and skills to help us provide effective policing. This involves enforcing public order and preventing serious crime as well as ensuring a social and secure working climate within the organization.’

‘Developments and needs within the police organization and in society are important to us. They help us determine the topics we should focus on in the knowledge we share and in our research,’ according to Knowledge and Research Sector Head Dennis Maier. ‘For instance, by appointing a lecturer. Diversity is one of the topics that will remain important in years to come.’

Maike Gieling has worked as a researcher for the Netherlands Police Academy for years. At present, she heads several studies conducted by the People and the Police Organisation Knowledge Centre. At present, she is also collaborating with external parties, such as the Special Professor of Diversity and Inclusion at the Police Saniye Çelik, who is affiliated with Leiden University.

‘Questions in relation to diversity remain important’

‘Research into diversity within the police is not new, but remains important, for instance in light of an ever-changing society,’ says Maike. ‘The challenge for police training is to effectively prepare new police officers for their tasks. They have to learn a lot in a brief period of time to be able to work independently on the street, where they will be faced with many different situations.’

‘How do you ensure that you treat each citizen in an equal manner? How do you handle situations where your personal opinions may be at odds with what the job demands of you? Can you talk with colleagues about improvements that could be made on the work floor? Can you address one another in the case of inappropriate conduct?’

‘In the next few years, I will work on the development of options to strengthen various skills in police education. This not only involves the content of the lessons, but also the skills of teachers to properly support students and talk about difficult subjects.’

Strong group culture

‘The diversity topic is also important because some of the problems in the organization are persistent. The police have a strong group culture. Although this may provide a sense of connection, it also leads to exclusion of people and an inability to make full use of the qualities of everyone in the organization. It continues to be important to actively seek what connects us within the police organization, despite our potential differences.’

‘Everyone, irrespective of background or looks, should feel welcome in the organization. Police work is demanding, and people have to deal with intense situations. This makes having an eye for employees’ wellbeing and offering them a safe working environment even more important.’

Ongoing research into inappropriate behaviour

A present, Maike is involved in a study into the approach to inappropriate behaviour within the police organization. The study focusses on the follow-up after internal reports of discrimination, exclusion, and racism. What happens after a police employee reports such incidents?’

‘To identify and analyse  this, we studied the files of a number of internal investigations. We also interviewed the people who filed the reports and professionals about their experiences. As part of this study, we work with a monitoring committee comprised of people from inside and outside the police organization. They take a critical look at the implementation of the study.’

‘Many police employees have already brought up the problems in the organization, including the employees and former employees who openly spoke their minds in ‘De Blauwe Familie’, a documentary about racism and discrimination in the police organization. I hope this study will contribute to the development of an effective approach to tackling problems. Reports must be taken seriously and require proper follow-up. And inappropriate behaviour should have consequences.’

‘The police want to be an organization with a capacity for early-stage self-correction. You not only want to respond more rapidly, but also work towards an organization where the need for such responses is limited to a minimum.’

‘We have to be open to external criticism’

‘As lecturer, I collaborate with researchers inside and outside the Police Academy. The emphasis of the study is on the development of professionalism and the improvement of police training, particularly in the fields of diversity and inclusion. In this context, it is also important to receive feedback from outside the organization, for instance from other schools or social organizations.’

‘If we want to jointly work towards improving the police organization, we have to be open to external criticism. We must not be afraid to look at what we ourselves can do better. This is also part of the responsibility we as police organization have for society.’