Mrs Susannah Fish joined Nottinghamshire Police in 1986 as a Police Constable. Since then, her career has seen her work across uniform and detective roles in Nottinghamshire, the West Midlands, the Metropolitan Police, and nationally. Her career culminated being appointed Chief Constable of Nottinghamshire Police until her retirement in 2017.
She was awarded the OBE for services to policing in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2008. She received the Queens Policing Medal for distinguished service in the Birthday Honours 2016, and was also awarded Upstander of the Year in the national hate crime awards 2017 for her leadership on misogyny as a hate crime. Her work is hard and has taken a great deal of determination to drive through.
Under her leadership, Nottinghamshire was the first police force to class misogyny as a hate crime. The hate crime includes unwanted or uninvited sexual advances, physical or verbal assault, unwanted or uninvited physical or verbal contact or engagement, and use of mobile phones to send unwanted or uninvited messages or take photographs without consent. It was a huge step forward in helping women to feel safe, protected and listened to, with the impact of these incidents previously often underestimated.
Joining the Senior School assembly earlier this week, she spoke about her work and campaigning as well as the gravity of speaking out if one were to ever be a victim of a misogynistic hate crime. It was a very thought provoking and important talk. Our thanks go to Mrs Fish, not only for her time, but what has achieved for women.
