BAPA history booklet

BAPA has lifted her and rebuilt her self-confidence. It has allowed her to help
others in ways she never thought possible. It has helped her to achieve goals that
she thought were beyond her reach, it has made her live again and be proud to
be an officer in West Midlands Police serving the community.
In 1998 Kin Devi joined West Midlands Police. After seeing her sister start a career
with the police she felt inspired to do the same. She states she has faced many
challenges which other staff did not and she believes it was down to the fact that
she was not in the influential networking group.
She is confident that with the new Chief, David Thompson, BAPA now has a voice
and she has every confidence they will together make the difference that is
required within the force and ultimately make West Midlands Police more
representative of the community it serves.
Kin states she needed the support of BAPA whilst in her probationary period as
she was being treated differently to other colleagues. She recalls if it had not
been for the team around her and Insp Paul Lewin Chair of BAPA at the time she
would have left the organisation. She states ‘when you are not in the majority
you begin to doubt yourself and the organisation you have joined. The police
force was not a career that was discussed when I was growing up even though my
Grandad was an Inspector in the Punjabi Police Force. I can only put this down to
the negative experiences my father had when he came to England in the sixties
and because the police force was made up of mainly white males.’
She therefore joined BAPA as a member and went to the meetings where she
could, but felt the need to keep her membership secret from colleagues as she
thought she would be alienated. Having attended several meetings she could
really see the benefits in that they could share personal experiences, engage with
community members and have a voice. As her confidence grew, she would often
get requests to support BME officers through challenging times and this put them
at ease.
Insp Paul Lewin then left the organisation and Insp Karpaul Sihota became chair
of BAPA. Karpaul continued to support Kin and BME officers in the challenging
times. When Karpaul left the organisation, BAPA lost it focus through no fault of
anyone. Sgt Winston Christie was made temporary chair but had no vice chair to
support him. He struggled to keep the momentum going and BME staff and
communities were suffering due to the lack of voice in BAPA.
It was at this time that Kin briefed Insp Karen Geddes about BAPA and suggested
she applied for the chair’s role. Subsequently after a vote Karen became chair, Kin
became vice chair and Winston Christie became general secretary.
BAPA now has a full committee of members and has gone from strength to
strength. They work closely with other staff networks and the community at
large.
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