Today, “root and branch reform” is the phrase on everyone’s lips- UK Policing is under the SSF Lens.
But what does that actually mean in practice?

In my latest case study and podcast, I explore the UK’s proposed policing reforms through the lens of two powerful tools:
🧠 The Bias Impact Tree
🧭 The Six Stages Framework (SSF)

Using these tools, we go beyond headlines and restructure plans to ask:
👉 What lies beneath the surface of reform?
👉 Are we streamlining a system that’s still rooted in bias, fear, and power imbalance?

🔍 We diagnose:

• Why merging police forces and investing in tech may fix symptoms but not systems
• How deep-seated beliefs—about race, power, and community—still shape outcomes
• Where UK policing currently sits on the SSF continuum (spoiler: it’s between Stage -2 and Stage 0)
• What true cultural transformation requires—from leadership to public accountability

This is for anyone serious about justice, not just efficiency.

📄 Read / 🎧 Listen:
⚒️ Add this to your leadership, policy, or DEI reform toolkit.

Let’s stop watering the leaves.
It’s time to heal the roots—and address the soil.

Read The Article

Stop Watering the Leaves: Why True Police Reform Starts with the Soil

We often hear calls for “root and branch reform” in policing. Recently, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley described the current system as an outdated relic, proposing structural modernizations like merging forces and upgrading technology. With leaders unusually aligned in calling for change—likening themselves to “turkeys voting for Christmas”—the appetite for overhaul seems genuine.

But are these structural changes enough? When we focus only on reorganizing the visible parts of an institution, we risk mistaking reorganisation for transformation. True, lasting change requires a deeper diagnosis of the problems that lie beneath the surface. Two powerful models, the Bias Impact Tree and the Six Stages Framework, provide a lens to diagnose why past reforms have failed and illuminate the path toward genuine transformation.

1. Most Reforms Are Just “Watering the Leaves”

The “Bias Impact Tree” is a simple but powerful metaphor for understanding institutional problems. It asks us to look at an organization as a living system with different layers, starting with what is most visible.

The “Leaves” of the tree represent the “Visible Symptoms” or “Surface Issues” that leaders and the public often focus on. These are the problems that are easiest to see and name. Concrete examples include:

• Force mergers and restructures
• Tech upgrades and failures
• Funding gaps and cuts
• Fragmented forces and low public trust

Focusing reform efforts exclusively on this layer is insufficient. This approach is akin to “pruning the leaves”—a superficial fix that fails to treat the underlying disease causing the symptoms to appear in the first place.

2. You Can’t Build Justice on “Contaminated Soil”

To understand why surface fixes fail, we must dig deeper into the hidden layers of the tree: the “Roots” and the “Soil.”

The “Roots” represent the “Structural Causes” of the problem. This is the internal infrastructure where dysfunction is sustained. It’s where issues like “bureaucratic silos,” “toxic culture,” “discriminatory practices,” “outdated systems,” and “fractured accountability” thrive.

Beneath the roots is the “Soil,” which represents the “Deep-Seated Beliefs” that feed the entire system. This foundational layer is composed of the historical and environmental context of the institution, including its “racialised policing legacy,” a “‘Tough on Crime’ Mentality,” “community disconnection,” and an inherent “power imbalance.”

This is where true transformation must happen.

“You can’t build justice on contaminated soil.”

This point is critical. A system built on mistrust, racial disparity, and power imbalance cannot simply be “streamlined” into justice. Without addressing the foundational culture and historical context, any new organizational structure will eventually be corrupted by the same old problems. Without treating the roots and healing the soil, “bias is simply redistributed under a new structure.”

3. Institutions Don’t Just Change- They Evolve Through Stages

If the Bias Impact Tree helps us diagnose the anatomy of the problem, the “Six Stages Framework (SSF)” reveals the organization’s readiness to address it. This diagnostic tool helps assess where an organisation currently sits on a continuum of equity and inclusion maturity.

It is a 13-stage continuum ranging from -6 (Extremist Leadership) to +6 (Beacon of Justice). The spectrum maps an institution’s mindset, from deeply negative stages like Stage -2: Denial and Deflection (“It’s just a few bad apples”; defensive press statements that minimize institutional racism) to a passive stage like Awareness Without Action (inquiry reports published, but no cultural transformation follows). Positive, forward-moving stages include +1: Courageous Learning, where the organization begins to name internal bias, and +2: Reflective Practice, where transparency improves and decisions are informed by community feedback.

Commissioner Rowley’s call for reform suggests he’s operating at Stage +1, potentially +2 in naming the system’s dysfunction. But will the system allow him to go further? This is the central challenge.

This framework is useful because it reveals that reform is not an on/off switch. It is a difficult journey that requires an honest and accurate assessment of the organization’s true starting point.

Conclusion: Are We Brave Enough to Dig Deeper?

Meaningful police reform requires us to move beyond surface-level structural changes. It demands that we confront the deep-seated culture, beliefs, and power dynamics that shape institutional behavior. We must stop just pruning the leaves and start the difficult work of healing the roots and the soil.

The frameworks discussed here provide a map for that journey, but they also leave us with a critical challenge.

“When we say ‘root and branch reform,’ are we willing to look at the soil — the beliefs, power structures, and blind spots that have always shaped the roots?”

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