This year will be the 10th local Police Memorial Day service and it will be taking place in Weston-super-Mare thanks to the hard work of a number of individuals, but particularly Chief Inspector Leanne Pook, retired sergeant Neil Goodwin and sergeant Peter Land.

The Avon and Somerset Police Federation is proud to sponsor the event and support a local service for officers and familes that wish to pay their respects. The service will take place at Clarence Park Baptist Church, Walliscote Road, Weston-super-Mare this Sunday, 30th September 2018. You need to be at the church by 2.45pm for the service between 3pm – 4pm. Refreshments will follow the service and the Police Choir, Mace Escort and Fire Service contingent will again be supporting this event. The service is honored to be joined once again by families of fallen officers and we aim to have a good congregation supporting them as the event is open to families and friends of officers and staff.

The National Police Memorial Day aims to, remember police officers who have been killed or died on duty, demonstrate to relatives, friends and colleagues of fallen officers that their sacrifice is not forgotten and recognise annually the dedication to duty and courage displayed by police officers.

As in the past it has been good to see so many retired officers at the event supporting their serving colleagues and families.

In another year that has been difficult for the policing family too many names have been added to the growing roll of honour. Come along and join use in paying respects to those who are no longer with us and supporting those families that have lost a loved one.

PC Claire Boddie appeared before a Gross Misconduct Hearing for failing to warn an Individual before drawing and using a Taser. She was cleared of any wrong doing on all counts.

The outcome today ends 18 months of uncertainty for Claire her family and friends. Police Officers are accountable for their decisions and expect there will be occasions when they will come under scrutiny. Too often the scrutiny is with the benefit of hindsight against a backdrop of a blame culture. Claire has had been subjected to a criminal investigation and trial where she was acquitted. As soon as that process finished, the IOPC announced she was still to face a Gross Misconduct hearing based on the same evidence. The Constabulary agreed, and these proceedings took place. Claire is relieved that the Panel decided that she had no case to answer.

Claire has been subject to negative comments on social media, her photograph displayed in the local press and individuals saw fit to put up pictures of the incident across Bristol clearly intent on undermining race relations with the Police. Race never played a part in this incident by Claire or the other Officer and we are disappointed it was made a key component by some outside of these proceedings. This incident could have been resolved in minutes if only the other party had simply given them his name.

The public rightly expect Police Officers to stop and question those they suspect are wanted for criminal offences. Clearly this was a case of mistaken identity and it is important to learn from mistakes. We do not feel a public trial and public Gross Misconduct hearing demonstrates that there was any other intention than to find her accountable for what happened that day.

Claire is also grateful for the support of her colleagues and would like to put this matter behind her so she can continue to serve the community.

The Home Office has launched a Review this week giving frontline officers an opportunity to share their ideas on how policing can be improved at a national level. What they choose to do with it is another matter!

The Review is seeking members’ views on – wellbeing, professional development, leadership, and innovation. The aim of the project is to provide recommendations that will influence workforce reform activity nationally. The Review will not address officer pay and resourcing.

Throughout August and September the Home Office has arranged online forums for members to voice their views, via Twitter using #WeCops and through the College of Policing’s POLKA network. Face-to-face activity will commence late October.

The first engagement opportunities relate to wellbeing:

– 20-26 August – on POLKA – questions posted to the Knowledge Bank Community Forum relating to the wellbeing

– 29 August at 9pm – on Twitter – #WeCops discussion on wellbeing

Please note: members will need to sign in to POLKA from their work accounts to engage in this way. Discussions will be hosted on the Knowledge Bank Community Discussion page, accessible after sign in.

More police officers than ever (7.8%) have taken second jobs according to the headline results of our latest pay and morale survey. This is up from 6.3% of respondents in 2017.

A staggering 44.8% said they worry about the state of their personal finances either every day or almost every day and more than one in nine (11.8%) said they never or almost never have enough money to cover all of their essentials. This is up from 11% last year.

The vast majority of respondents, 87.9%, do not feel fairly paid considering the stresses and strains of their job.

This has never been more relevant after the Government’s recent announcement of a derisory 2% pay increase for police from September, which in real terms amounts to an uplift of just 0.85% – police officer pay has now decreased by around 18% since 2009/10.

More than 27,000 police officers – nearly a quarter of all ranks from constable to chief inspector – took part in our survey which was open between April and May this year. The findings provide vital evidence to inform our work on pay and conditions.

John Apter, recently elected as national Chair, said: “Although this hardly comes as a surprise, the results make grim reading. Our members are clearly suffering from even worse financial pressures than last year, with some appearing to be in dire straits.

“Our members are under immense pressure to deliver, with dwindling resources and rising crime – particularly violent crime – leading to a demand for our services that has never been higher. All they want is to be adequately paid for the job that they do.

“We know officers are struggling and some have had to resort to food vouchers and other welfare schemes. This clearly cannot be right or acceptable that those employed to keep the public safe cannot make ends meet or put food on tables for their families.

“We have continually warned that policing is on the critical list; Government cuts mean fewer officers – 22,000 since 2010 – and the resulting pressure this puts on our members is immense.”

The survey revealed locally in Avon and Somerset:

79% said they feel financially worse off than they did five years ago

47.6% reported worrying about the state of their personal finances every day or almost every day

for the fifth year running there has been an increase in those who were dissatisfied with their basic pay: 74.1% compared with 73.5% last year – this is the highest level since the survey began.

9.4% told us that they had an intention to leave the police service either within the next 2 years or as soon as possible. A further 17.4% of respondents said that they currently do not know what their intentions are with regards to staying in or leaving the police.The highest impact factors being the effect on family and personal life and morale.

“And just last month we saw officers honoured at our national Bravery Awards, revealing truly humbling stories as they put their lives on the line. All they want is for their commitment to keeping the public safe to be fairly recognised.”

The survey findings will be used in our submission to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB, an independent group which advises the government on police pay) to help inform the pay award in 2019.

The new Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales says he is “honoured and humbled” to have been elected to the position.

John Apter, formerly the Chair of Hampshire Police Federation, reacted to this morning’s announcement saying: “I am incredibly proud to be a police officer but what makes it special is the people I work with. Police officers are ordinary people doing an extraordinary job. They are the bravest. They are the best.”

He continued: “Today I am honoured and humbled to be elected as their voice. It is an incredible privilege to be named Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales – the first ever to be elected by officers up and down the country.”

Mr Apter was selected ahead of Phill Matthews, PFEW’s Conduct and Performance lead, who had also challenged for the position.

Speaking after the election result Mr Apter set out his aims for his tenure saying: “For far too long police officers have been taken advantage of. Pay and conditions, ‘reform’ of the service, huge budget cuts, and outrageous slurs and media soundbites… The Government has been kicking us for years. There comes a point where we must bite back, that time has come.

And he vowed to take a tough stance when negotiating on behalf of his members saying: “Whilst we must have a relationship with the Home Office, chief officers and the College of Policing, I do not want to be their friend. I will hold them to account to make sure they act in my members best interests. That begins tomorrow when I start my role as National Chair.

“I have a long list of priorities. At the top of the list will always be pay and conditions. Following the contemptible and disgraceful actions of the Government this year over our pay award – and let’s be frank, over the past seven or eight years – we have some significant decisions to make. The disdain and contempt shown to police officers in England and Wales must end.”

He continued: “Officer safety is also key. I will be pushing Government to centrally fund Taser and I will also be putting my full support to getting better protection for police drivers. The legal vulnerability they face for doing what they are trained to do is unacceptable and must end.

“I also want to start the debate on Employment Rights for police officers. It’s important we have a grown up and balanced discussion about what this means – and is it something our members want?
“Other areas I want to focus on include Special Constables joining the Federation, the ongoing wellbeing of colleagues and reviewing the ‘free half hour for the Queen’. I will be making myself as visible as possible, both to members across England and Wales and to local Federations.

“I want to make sure the Police Federation of England and Wales gives local Federations whatever support they need to give the best service they can. Local Federations are the credibility of the organisation: they need more support and I will make sure they get it. I am also aware that the National Federation needs to bolster the confidence of our members. And I intend to be driving that from the centre with tangible actions and not just words.

“So, it will be a busy few months and years ahead. Every day is important, and I am determined to make a difference. We have been shouting about the consequence of cuts to policing for years and have been labelled scaremongers for doing so. We need to be more passionate, persuasive and proactive, and we must take our message to the public, who in the main support policing.

“We are dealing with a Government that has its head firmly buried in the sand when it comes to the impact of cuts to policing. Let’s make them sit up and listen. The hard work starts here. Working together we can achieve so much. For the public we serve, and the police officers we represent.

“Thank you again for having the faith in me to do the job for you,” Mr Apter concluded.