THE number of neurodiverse staff working for Devon & Cornwall Police has been revealed by a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

A total of 174 police officers are known to be neurodiverse, the FOI request shows.

It also shows 36 police staff and two PCSOs to be neurodiverse.

It should be noted, however, that the data only accounts for those officers, staff and PSCO’s who willingly disclosed their neurodiversity.

The figures do not take into account those employed by the force who are in fact neurodiverse, but have not disclosed such.

Put simply, neurodiversity is a way of saying that human brains are different to each other.

It describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving.