News

For this year’s Black History Month at Nuffield, Alison Heydari of the Metropolitan Police Service and the National Police Chiefs’ Council joined us to speak on “Trust, Performance and the Future of Public Service”.

Alison is Director of the Police Race Action Plan, a national change programme that aims to address critically low levels of trust and confidence in Black communities and improve operational effectiveness. She is also Deputy Assistant Commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service; Chief Officer Lead for Out of Court Resolutions; and was elected to a Visiting Fellowship at Nuffield in April 2025.

In her talk, Alison spoke about her commitment to procedural justice, how this has been an enduring theme throughout her varied career, and how it specifically applies in the policing context. She discussed the importance of improving both victim contact and suspect contact to build trust in fair decision-making, and the importance of listening to communities who have low trust in policing.

She also spoke specifically about the Police Race Action Plan, its various workstreams – including internal culture, use of powers, community engagement, and protection and support of communities – and both the challenges and successes of implementing a national plan across a devolved and complex institution.

Attendees had many thoughtful questions, and there was an in-depth discussion of many of the issues raised by Alison’s talk, such as the intersection of policing with other institutions and wider society, and how academia and research can support practitioners.

We are incredibly grateful to Alison for sharing her experiences, expertise and insight.