Faith support

Faith Support

We aim to try and understand the specific needs and interests related to different belief strands, and support Sussex Police to achieve equality in the workplace.

We are working towards developing links with the National Association of Muslim Police, Jewish Police Association, and National Sikh Police Association. We are focused on internal and external multifaith engagement in order to be representative of the communities we serve.

Multifaith Advisory Group

The purpose of the Multifaith Advisory Group is to improve the trust and confidence between different faith groups within Sussex and with Sussex Police. It provides faith and belief communities with an opportunity to advise, challenge and inform Sussex Police on a variety of topics through different teachings, traditions and practices. The Multifaith Advisory Group meets three times a year. 

Faith Equality Champions

Each of the major faith strands represented in Sussex have a dedicated Equality Champion, whose role it is to liaise with individuals and communities from those beliefs, build community partnerships and represent Sussex Police at key dates in their faith calendars. We have Faith Equality Champions for Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Place of Worship Liaison Officers 

As part of our commitment to improving trust and building confidence with our faith and belief communities, Sussex Police employ a number of Place of Worship Liaison Officers (POWLOs) throughout the force. The role of a POWLO is to act as a local point of contact for individuals or organisations and build good relations with local communities. All liaison officer roles are voluntary and require no formal training - just an interest in broadening your understanding and experience. A list of POWLOs is available on our Faith and Belief page.

Chaplaincy Support

Our Multifaith Chaplaincy Lead is Frances Novillo, whose team of volunteer chaplains drawn from many faith communities visit police premises to provide wellbeing support and encouragement to officers and police staff in their work, listening without judgement, affirming each individual and caring about what each person believes, whether or not they profess a religious faith.  Chaplains respect and reflect the diversity of belief within the service and wider community, and we are representative practitioners who, true to our own faith or belief, engage openly and honestly with those of all faiths and none.