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Lincolnshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable Kerrin Wilson is calling time on her career after almost five years in the county, and 30 in police forces. She sat down with The Lincolnite to discuss her life in the blue lights.

Kerrin Wilson’s career has seen her rise through the ranks of forces across the country, starting at Northumbria Police in 1992 before a promotion to Chief Inspector at North Yorkshire Police and eventually a Superintendent at Durham Constabulary in 2013.

Five years later, in July 2018, she relocated to Lincolnshire as the Assistant Chief Constable, and has spent the last four and a half years being responsible for crime and operations locally – namely the force control room and criminal justice.

Now, her time has come to retire and retreat back to her home in Tyneside, where she says she has chores to do and a new puppy to look after, as well as spending valuable time with her family.

Reflecting on her time in the force, Kerrin Wilson, 54, told The Lincolnite: “I’ve loved every minute of it. Even the tough times, because tough times make you a little bit more resilient for the next difficult decision that comes along.

“Coming up to 30 years is a huge milestone, with four and a half of those years here in Lincolnshire. I’ve had an incredible career and done lots of things that I would never have dreamed of growing up.

“I’d never worked in Lincolnshire before, but met people who talked about how fabulous a place it was. I’ve met some great people, but could also see there were some really challenging areas for Lincolnshire Police to contend with – so I applied for the job, got it and loved it.”

Kerrin is a keen advocate of change and addressing societal inequalities. As a female of mixed race background, she is no stranger to the impact of marginalisation and abuse. Her key to dealing with this is “patience” and “professionalism”.

“It’s about recognising that, quite often, if you’re going to deal with something, you are going to a tension area. I’ve had racist and sexist abuse when I’ve been a cop, and a lot of the time you just have to put a blanket over your head and think ‘this isn’t about me, it’s about the uniform’.

“I think restorative justice has a real part to play for policing, and I think we should be much more open to having these communications with people who have abused us, whether it’s physical or verbal, to bring them in and let them see that there’s a human behind this.”

Earlier this year, Lincolnshire Police officers made national headlines when they took part in a Macarena dance during Lincoln Pride celebrations, with many questioning whether police time could have been spent more productively. However, the outgoing Assistant Chief Constable didn’t see it that way.

“All of our staff and colleagues are made up from members of the public, so they need to feel as if the organisation is inclusive and representative of wider society as well.

“I know we made national headlines doing the Macarena, but actually, that five minutes of dancing is a tiny amount of what that community engagement actually means. It means people from those protected characteristic backgrounds feel more confident to come forward and know the police will be there for them.

“It’s not that long ago that policing didn’t give a very good service to people from LGBTQ backgrounds, so being able to make those connections is really important. I feel very proud that we have moved on and are bold and confident in saying we’ll go the extra mile to speak to those communities.”

Monday’s report into misconduct, law breaking and claims of misogyny, racism and homophobia within the Metropolitan Police was addressed, with Wilson saying she is “disappointed and frustrated in equal measures” at the news.

ACC Wilson added: “Policing nationally has not moved on as it should have done. We see from the Louise Casey report out for the Met Police, it’s appalling that in this day and age we still have those types of attitudes and behaviours internally and externally.

“But I think for me, the work that I’ve done and the huge support I’ve had from factions within policing and Lincolnshire itself, has really set us up in a good way.

“I’m not saying we’re perfect here in Lincolnshire – we aren’t – but we don’t have the amount of disparity openly that other police forces do, but there are still a lot of disparities within the whole criminal justice system.

“I’ve worked with partners in all different agencies in Lincolnshire to highlight that you’re still more likely to be stopped and searched or given a more significant sentence at court if you are from a minority background.

“If we aren’t able to fix these things, then we’re not doing the service that we should to people with protected characteristics. The criminal justice system has been just one part of their life, they will see disparity in lots of other areas too, whether it be education or health, and it can be quite overwhelming as a minority group.”