The Police Federation of England & Wales www.polfed.org POLICEDecember 2019 / January 2020 Centenary celebrations at Central Hall Editor: Theo Boyce December / January – in this issue: Federation House, POLICE Highbury Drive, Leatherhead, NEWS & COMMENT Surrey, KT22 7UY Tel: 01372 352000 5 Editorial MPs’ inquiry into police watchdog welcomed Designer: Keith Potter 6 Outrage as Bonfire Night sees spate of attacks on officers Advertising agents: 7 Knife and violent crime rates continue to spiral Richard Place 8 View from the chair: John Apter takes time out to reflect Chestnut Media on a rollercoaster 12 months Tel: 01271 324748 Politics is a funny old game... P7 07962 370808 Email: 9 New Police Roll of Honour unveiled [email protected] 10 Centenary Celebration: Coverage of the special event to Every care is taken to ensure celebrate 100 years of the Police Federation that advertisements are accepted 14 Policing in Wales ‘should be run by the Welsh Government’ only from bona fide advertisers. The Police Federation cannot 15 PFEW Chair welcomes ‘working closer’ with the AMP accept any liability for losses 16 Public complaints against officers fall incurred by any person as a 17 Officers honoured at PFNDF result of a default on the part of P9 an advertiser. 18 Post-Incident Procedures Seminar: Officer suicides averted by welfare programme P10 The views expressed within PFEW campaigns outlined by National Board Members the magazine are not necessarily 22 Five minutes with John Apter the views of the National Board of the Police Federation of England 24 The latest on the pensions challenge and Wales. 25 Pay and Morale Survey: Most officers worry about money National Chair almost every day John Apter 26 Help for ‘colour impaired’ officers who want Taser National Secretary 30 Time Limits are needed to avoid ‘massive’ Alex Duncan mental health impact National Treasurer 32 Menopause awareness: ‘Suddenly I was down a rocky Simon Kempton road, alone and scared...’ National Vice-Chair Ché Donald 35 Attacks on officers should never be plea bargained away Deputy National Secretary 36 We can’t remove stress, but we can all talk about it more John Partington 37 Honouring our fallen colleagues – the UK Police Memorial Deputy National Treasurer Sarah Johnson P23 © The Police Federation 2019 Reproduction strictly forbidden REGULARS unless by prior arrangement with 37 Nick O’Time the publishers. 38 Members’ Benefits Cover image: 39 Ask the Experts Anderson Photography P36 POLICE December 2019 / January 2020 3 NEWS n Editorial December 2019 MPs’ inquiry into police / January 2020 watchdog welcomed Theo Boyce, An inquiry into the role and remit of the should and we feel there are significant Editor Independent Office for Police Conduct areas where improvement can be made (IOPC), launched by Parliament’s to make it quicker and more effective. Full circle... influential Home Affairs Committee, has We have seen a marked difference since been welcomed by the Police Federation Michael Lockwood took over as IOPC Members and staff of the Police of England and Wales (PFEW). Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) Director General, but one man alone The inquiry will examine how the IOPC have been recognising the organisation’s cannot reform a whole organisation.” operates within the police conduct achievement of reaching 100 years Mr Matthews added: “I hope this and discipline system, including how it of service. Established in 1919 by The inquiry will shine a light into all corners works with forces to resolve complaints, Police Act, the PFEW has been fighting of the IOPC and its practices, so that and what progress has been made for officers’ rights throughout this time. police officers and the public are able to in reforming the system following Indeed, the 1919 Act was drawn up in have the confidence they need in such criticisms of the time taken to deal response to strikes by police, prompted an important organisation.” with cases. The Committee will also by officers’ increasing unhappiness with Committee Chair Yvette Cooper said consider what reforms are required to pay and conditions. that the IOPC had been established in secure public confidence in the police Now, in November 2019, we have January 2018 with the promise of new conduct and disciplinary system. released the findings of the PFEW Pay powers, greater independence and and Morale Survey, which obtains faster decision making: “These reforms members’ views on their pay and Distress and anxiety were meant to increase transparency conditions, and their attitudes to work Reacting to the announcement, the and build trust in the police complaints in general. A key finding was that almost PFEW Conduct and Performance Lead and disciplinary process. three quarters of respondents said they Phill Matthews said: “We welcome any “Nearly two years on we continue to were worse off financially now than they examination of the role and function of hear concerns that the system is not were five years ago; more than half of the IPOC. We have been deeply worried working as it should. In this inquiry we respondents (57 per cent) also said that for some years about the standard expect to look at the IOPC’s powers their morale was either low or very low. and length of time its investigations and effectiveness but, given that most PFEW National Chair John Apter can take to complete, and have been complaints are dealt with by local forces recently called for a review of the campaigning for a 12-month time limit under the scrutiny of police and crime “growing mental health crisis”, as new be introduced to ensure the distress and commissioners, we shall also look at figures revealed that officers dealt with anxiety caused to all those involved in whether wider reforms are needed to 28 per cent more cases in the last four the process can be minimised. build a system in which the public can years, adding yet more pressure on an “It is only right that the actions of have real confidence.” already financially ravaged service. police officers should be scrutinised, but Read more about the PFEW’s new The signs are encouraging though, the current system is not working as it Time Limits campaign on p26 with the much publicised officer uplift promised by the Government in office as I write, the PFEW’s decision to allocate Starting salary is ‘unrealistic’ up to £375,000 to the Welfare Support Starting salaries for new recruits are policing. When we put the bid in to the Programme, and your views being used “unrealistic”, according to the Chair Home Office for the funding, we set a as evidence for the Police Remuneration of the National Police Chiefs’ Council mid-level range. We’ve got to have those Review Body that will make (NPCC), and will make recruiting conversations because we want people to recommendations about police pay next 20,000 more officers challenging. come in with certain skills and aspirations. year – hopefully offering the financial During a talk on policing priorities Sir Tom Winsor, HM chief inspector of recognition our members deserve. We are ending 2019 in similar at the Federation’s Centenary event constabulary, added that this starting circumstances to those which the in November, panellists were asked salary is only for the first six months and Federation found itself dealing with whether a starting salary of £18,000 will new graduates in other sectors work in 1919; whatever happens over the affect the ability to recruit officers. on lower salaries than police officers. next century, I know that the PFEW will NPCC Chair Martin Hewitt replied: Other topics discussed included the always put members first. “Definitely. Starting salaries differ increased pressure on officers responding Follow the Federation @pfew_hq considerably, but I don’t think that figure to mental health callouts. Turn to p10 is realistic for someone coming into for a full round-up of the event. POLICE December 2019 / January 2020 5 n NEWS Blame culture ???????? change needs everyone’s backing Chiefs and senior officers must get behind new performance and conduct regulations to move away from blame culture and towards learning and improvement, Home Office officials say. Speaking at the recent Conduct and Performance Liaison Officers’ Seminar in Liverpool (organised by the Police Federation of England and Wales), Ian Balbi and Gary Watson from the Home Office’s Police Integrity Unit highlighted what officers can expect from new regulations ahead of their official launch in December. One of the key points includes a move towards ‘reflective practice’, where the misconduct threshold will be raised. Mr Watson told delegates the current system was not in anyone’s interest and was too adversarial for low-level matters. He said this prompted the need for a change in culture whereby supervisors can feel more confident in dealing with cases outside of the misconduct arena. A real difference Outrage as Bonfire Night sees He added all parties must be on board with these changes for it to make a real difference, so the disciplinary spate of attacks on officers culture does not creep back in again. A series of Bonfire Night attacks on police officers and emergency workers has been Mr Balbi, head of discipline policy, said branded “totally unacceptable” by the National Chair of the Police Federation of professional standards departments England and Wales (PFEW). are currently flooded with low-level The condemnation comes after a number of incidents. In Preston two Lancashire cases and approximately 70 per cent Police Community Support Officers were injured after a brick was thrown through of misconduct hearing outcomes end the window of a police van. The police officer who was driving was uninjured, but in management action anyway. both PCSOs suffered cuts.