59716 Focus Link Summer A/W:42402 Focus Link Spring 04 20/6/11 16:30 Page 1 Yr Haf / Summer 2011 Ffederasiwn Heddlu Gogledd Cymru Ar Y Cyd â Heddlu Gogledd Cymru / North Wales Police Federation In Association With North Wales Police Working together as One Team, we will continue to move forward as an organisation Coming soon page 6 OUR ORGANISATION new configuration of radio channels and associated issues were escalated to, and progress May the 4th has come and gone and we are now is being regularly reviewed at, the weekly chief operating the new policing model within the officer meeting. new structures. A key element of the long term success will be the In the visits made by ACPO officers and senior role of the Communications Centre, which is managers, it has been encouraging to see such a required to positively dispatch resources rather positive attitude from officers and staff ready to than merely ask for volunteers. Additionally, they meet the new challenges. Change is never easy, will be encouraged to manage incident queries. and certainly not on the scale that we pursued on It’s vitally important that we all work as “One 4th May. Team”. Geographical boundaries have been HERO Cop Given the scale the changeover went as smoothly removed and we must ensure that other barriers as could be reasonably expected and I pay tribute do not appear in their place. One Team includes page 8 to those who made it happen. Many worked Response, Neighbourhood and Investigation, tirelessly to ensure that IT upgrades happened underpinned by all the other areas which focus on without disruption to frontline services, others supporting front line delivery such as the made sure that the logistics were in place for fleet Communications Centre. and lockers to be in the right place at the right I consider the involvement of Unison, the time. Months of planning, commitment and hard Federation and Superintendents’ Association in work paid off and for that I thank all concerned. informing and challenging the change programme At the same time, the vast majority of those on the and highlighting concerns and issues to be frontline prepared in advance by taking into paramount to the success of the organisation. That account the advice provided. The central team is why they are fully involved in Project 2011+, dealt with only a few relatively minor issues during that is why their representatives are encouraged to Federation the transition, which is testament to the raise any such concerns and that is why those Update professionalism displayed in making the transfer concerns are given due importance by the as smooth as possible. organisation. In this regard no one should fail to pages 11 - 14 Has the change proved successful? That depends recognise what a difficult role Richie Eccles and on how you judge success and in truth it is too Eileen Price, in particular, have to perform. early to reach a conclusion. It will take time for Representing, and being seen to represent, staff the new design to bed in and we are already views on the one hand and on the other making adjustments as we go along, but the daily contributing to the change programme in a business of policing continues. I recognise that positive fashion is not an easy balance to achieve many operational staff may be working in and could be easily underestimated and different locations and, coupled with the change undervalued. It is not undervalued by me. of structure, will need time to settle. We will In terms of balance, let me then turn to some of continue to support managers and staff to ensure the views expressed in this edition and respond as that this transition is as successful as it can be. I might be properly expected to do as the one Anti Social Let me assure you that all issues being highlighted ultimately accountable for this organisation. Behaviour Matters are being risk assessed and prioritised. Seemingly Inspector Mark Davies in his article on For example, the concerns expressed about the p12 has not taken the time to read the mandate pages 20 - 21 Continued overleaf 59716 Focus Link Summer A/W:42402 Focus Link Spring 04 20/6/11 16:30 Page 2 for Project 2011+ for if he had he would know that his suggested • To agree to recycle savings would serve to undermine the strategy for realising savings is the strategy that is being pursued, negotiations and any future national settlement and would with project 2011+ as its core. also fail to acknowledge that pay and conditions across Moreover it seems that Inspector Davies neither reads local most, if not all, sectors are necessarily being constrained in newspapers, listens to local radio channels nor watches local one form or another to contribute to meeting the national television channels. If he did he would have noted that in the financial deficit many interviews I have given over the last few months I have • I am responsible for the whole workforce, not just the repeatedly said: Federated ranks and I must be, and must be seen to be, fair to all. I am not prepared to treat police officers and • Given the scale of the financial cut we face over four years police staff differently for example (the first being 2011/12), to do nothing was not an option • Whether any of us may like it or not, considerable financial savings have to be found and to agree to recycle any • That staff numbers were going to fall, probably in the order savings arising from the Windsor review, even if I were of 300 staff in permitted to do so (and I am not as it will be a national total but maybe more settlement in many respects), would necessarily lead to a • That we would continue to ensure that if further reduction in the number of staff employed which the public needed us urgently, we would would increase the pressure still further on those remaining get to them as quickly as possible Am I concerned about the impact Windsor will have on some staff? • That the numbers on neighbourhood policing teams would Of course I am, I feel responsible for the organisation and those be protected at this point working within it. Just as I am concerned about the effect the emerging proposals on pensions, arising from the Hutton Review, • That whilst we would seek to maintain frontline services, will have on all members of staff. Indeed, my greatest concern the nature of some of those services would necessarily have relates to the combined effect of the broader pay freeze, Windsor, to change. A specific example I often gave was that we Hutton and other taxation changes set in the context of rising would no longer be attending all crimes and indeed domestic costs. Concerned that someone, somewhere in referred to some particular vehicle crimes as falling within Government might not be totalling up the effects of all of these on this category public sector staff, some time ago I personally wrote with the • In short, I indicated I could not protect frontline numbers endorsement of my own staff association to Tom Windsor and Nick but that I would do my best to protect frontline services Herbert, the Police Minister, making this point. The suggestion that senior managers in this organisation won’t If this does not represent an attempt to shape public expectations raise concerns because they fear it will amount to career suicide is then I am not sure what does. That said the considerable number also a serious criticism to level at the organisation and an easy one of meetings senior managers, Police Authority Members and I to make without offering evidence. Let me be clear for my part, attended with the County Councils, local parish and town councils that on the contrary if I discover managers in the organisation and other important groups and also the level of correspondence I have not raised substantive concerns when they should have in continue to engage in on the subject is further evidence of the accordance with the level of responsibility they hold, then evidence efforts that many have pursued to similarly inform our of this fact is more likely to influence the assessment of their communities and their representatives. I have never said there will competence negatively then the alternative. I am confident that be no cut to “frontline policing” and neither have any of my chief our current promotion processes afford the opportunity to identify officer colleagues. any undue grounds for a manager failing to support a deserving The suggestion in the p12 article that the organisation might not candidate for promotion and I challenge anybody to suggest that have been open with the public in an attempt to preserve public any selection process I am personally concerned in (and I chaired confidence is nothing short of nonsense. Have we considered what the last Superintendent selection process) is anything other than impact what we say will have on the public we serve? Of course we fair and transparent. have, to do otherwise would be to lose sight of the fact that we are an organisation charged with keeping our public safe and helping OUR PRIORITIES them to feel safe. During this period of change, it is worth remembering that our Turning to the letter referred to in the article, it should be clear priorities remain to: from the above that the letter was not my first indication that all • Ensure that people have trust and confidence in could not remain the same.