Almost the only organisation in the Rotherham District that will expand in the next year or two will be the police.

There will be new jobs, not just in the restored neighbourhood teams with their uniformed officers, but in many other areas as well.

Detectives will be needed and also more civilian jobs will have to be filled – in offices and workshops, working on computers and with vehicles.

This offers Rotherham young people the chance of a career when so many other opportunities are disappearing as the economy struggles to rebuild itself after the coronavirus.

It also offers people the chance to stay local and be near family and friends, something that is important for some people.

When young people think about a career, they look at the organisation they might join to see whether there are other people working in it who look like them. If there are, that makes them feel more comfortable in applying.

If say, you are female, and the career you might choose is overwhelmingly male, that might put you off.

A decade or two ago, it was a brave woman who embarked on a career in engineering or construction. But that has changed.

The same is true of the police, not least in South Yorkshire.

I have just been looking at some of the figures.

We want a police force that looks like the communities it serves because it is drawn from the communities it serves.

The proportion of women in the workforce is now more than one third.

You will find female officers at every level – from a police constable on the beat to an Assistant Chief Constable in the Senior Command Team.

Two of the four district commanders across South Yorkshire are also female.

Something similar is happening as far as ethnic diversity goes. At the moment, 5% of the force are from ethnic minorities.

But the current intake of new recruits shows this rising to 8.6%, which is getting nearer to the South Yorkshire ethnic minority population of 11.9%.

There is religious diversity too – with some officers members of Christian and Muslim police associations.

But recruiting is one thing, retaining officers and staff is another.

This will only happen if people of whatever sex or ethnicity feel that this is an organisation where they feel valued, supported and proud to work for.

The word for that is ‘inclusive’.

We want an inclusive police force, just as we want inclusive communities.