Even before Katie Harber joined the Met Police, she knew what it was like to live the life of a cop.

Growing up she was surrounded by family members who were part of the force, all men.

"Dad was a Home Beat [safer neighbourhoods] officer in Croydon for 18 years and we lived on his ward," Ms Harber said.

"Team breakfasts were frequently round our kitchen table.

"I loved the stories and the obvious difference he made, with people regularly calling at the house for advice."

She is the only woman from her family to join the Met and 15 years on is thrilled with her current role as Detective Superintendent at Barnet.

"It's been the most fulfilling yet," she said.

"What I love about policing is trying to solve problems in a world that isn't perfect and never will be.

"We need to focus policing and criminal justice responses around people and their complicated situations, trialling different ways of doing things to see how they work in the real world."

Katie is starting a Masters in Applied Criminology and Police Management at Cambridge in April to explore exactly that.

Now she wants to see more women rise through the ranks.

"It would be great if we could formally develop long term partnering with schools and universities to encourage young women to see policing as a career choice," she said.

"Formal mentoring is not always the answer, great mentoring works through mutual affinity, we need to focus on where this can happen naturally.

"We still need to be more creative with flexible and part time working and stop seeing it as a predominantly female issue.

"Until men are seen as just as likely to request it, part time working risks never being seen as truly equal."