“During this busy period the message will always be, stay safe, don’t take risks, drive carefully”
A Christmas message to members from Keith, Glyn and Peter at Staffordshire Police Federation:
“As another difficult and demanding year for all officers comes to an end, I have to say as a Federation we have done more this year to help and support officers than ever before. As the demand and pressure on officers increases so does the risk of making a mistake, being unable to do as good a job as we have in the past for our communities exposes our officers to risk of complaint and criticism, and the Federation has to be there 24/7 to provide support when needed.
We have seen the transition from a Joint Branch Board into a Branch Board and Branch Council with some new local Reps who we are in the process of getting onto federation training courses, starting with a basic Representatives course and then for those who want to specialise conduct and performance, equalities and health and safety. Our local reps provide that vital link between the staff and the Board, that presence in the work place, and being there when officers need it.
The difficulties in 2019 are already emerging , the potential closure of Burton Custody facility meaning officers will have to travel further with detained persons to get to a custody site, the knock on effect being those officers will be away from there patch for longer, exposing colleagues already thin on the ground to perhaps more risk of asking for help and that help being a long way away. We will be watching this closely.
Government have promised some more money for Policing and the ability for Police and Crime Commissioners to increase the Policing Precept, so that an increase in Council Tax could help our funding, let’s see what effect this has.
So during this busy period the message will always be, stay safe, don’t take risks, drive carefully and use that Body Worn Video because it saves more than it skewers!”
