Staffordshire Police Federation workplace rep Dave Stubbs says his one piece of advice to new recruits would be: “Subscribe to the Federation.”
Dave, who joined the Metropolitan Police – “a family trade” - in 2000 before transferring to Staffordshire in 2003, is currently splitting his time working in the Crime Review Team under Specialist Crime Command and working with the Federation.
He became a rep in 2007 after putting himself forward to help colleagues in their time of need and is currently the branch lead for detectives, acting as SPOC for the Police Federation National Detectives’ Forum, and Post-Incident Procedures.
He explains: “I’m passionate about assisting colleagues and I am particularly passionate about helping officers who end up in difficulty from on-duty incidents. So post-incident procedures is something I like to specialise in – that and the detectives’ forum.
“But I know the most challenging aspect of my role as a rep is having to professionally challenge supervisors; it takes confidence to be able to do that.”
He also says he’s worried about the ability of the service to gain and retain skilled staff: “The police service is lacking experience in general at the moment but maintaining a highly skilled and experienced CID and specialist investigations department is definitely a challenge.”
Dave adds that he sees the greatest challenge for the Police Federation of England and Wales is re-building the trust of its members, particularly after the pension issue.
He also says Staffordshire Police Federation needs to balance workloads and ensure it has good communication with members.
