Neurodiversity (FOI ref: 586/26)

Request

a) I would like to know if there are any conditions for example ASD or ADHD that would stop an individual from working as a police officer at West Midlands Police and what specific roles such as the armed response unit would not be open to neurodivergent individuals.

b) I would like to know how many people with a neurodivergent condition were employed in total by West Midlands Police between the years 2024 and 2026.

c) Could I also ask what percentage this would have been of your entire workforce between the years 2024-26?

Response

a) There are no neurodivergent conditions that automatically prevent an individual from working as a police officer (including in specialist roles). All decisions are made on a case by case basis, taking into account the individual's circumstances and supporting medical evidence.

b) and c) See following tables:

Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that this data has been extracted from a number of data sources used by forces for police purposes. The detail collected to respond specifically to your request may be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when interpreting the data.

The figures provided therefore are our best interpretation of data which has relevance to your request, but you should be aware that the collation of figures for ad hoc requests may have limitations and this should be taken into account when those data are used.

If you decide to write an article / use the enclosed data we would ask you to take into consideration the factors highlighted in this document so as to not mislead members of the public or official bodies, or misrepresent the relevance of the whole or any part of this disclosed material.