Hampshire Police Federation Conference Newsletter 2016 1

CHIEF Constables have been brand-ed “a disgrace” for refusing a wider roll out of Taser, the Police Federation conference has heard.

John Apter, Chairman of Hamp-shire Police Federation, was speaking out on protecting police officers during a session on police assaults.

He said: “Taser is an essential piece of equipment and with the evidence of a survey we have done and from officers who have been assaulted, we lobbied hard with the Chief Constable and PCC and they agreed.

“We have 400 officers authorised to use Taser but I want more because it gives confidence and it prevents serious injury. I have evidence that it protects officers.

“Chiefs – please rethink your po-sition on Taser. To say it shouldn’t be rolled out further is a disgrace.

“Taser has proven itself time and again that with the right training and right use of force it is an essential piece of kit and must be rolled out to every officer who wants to use it.

“Chiefs around the country – it’s your decision. I accept its expensive but what is the cost of the safety of your officers?”

Mr Apter also said Chief Consta-

bles should know the true level of violence against their officers.

Speaking about the Home Office’s plan to gather assault data from criminal records, he said: “Some forces say they find it difficult to get that data but I don’t accept that. My message to Chief Constables is surely you want to know true level of violence against your staff?

“If we’re to deal with this issue we need to know how big it is. Believe me, it’s bigger than the 23,000 as-saults on officers across England and Wales that we know about. When we put the true picture to judiciary they

will start to sit up and listen.” Mr Apter added that Hampshire

has a new system of supporting officers who have been assaulted.

He said: “When we drilled into the data we found that officers of so-called minor offences had been repeat victims. They had a lack of confidence in their own ability. They thought they were doing something wrong. In some cases it was those who hadn’t had a serious assault who went on long-term sick leave and had mental health issues. A little bit of support goes a long way.” n See more on pages 3-4.

THE Home Secretary has refused to confirm that she would ratify any decisions of the Police Re-muneration Review Body over an officer pay rise this year.

The Police Federation of En-gland and Wales has requested a 2.8% pay rise for officers for 2016 from the PRRB.

But the Home Secretary offered no assurances that she would stick to the body’s recom-mendations at this year’s Police Federation Annual Conference.

Steve White, Federation Chair-man, told the Home Secretary: “We’re not asking for spectacular bonuses. Just respect and ade-quate, fair reward.

“With cuts to pay and pensions, no wonder police officers tell us they are demoralised. That’s why we’re asking the PRRB for a pay increase of 2.8%.”

He added: “In the scheme of things, 2.8% is a pitiful amount of money, but as you can never really put a price on the dedica-tion and heroism of our police officers, we understand the need to be pragmatic. All we ask is that you honour our pay review body recommendation.”

Mrs May did not address pay during her speech. Speaking to journalists, she refused to commit to honouring the PRRB’s decision.n See more on page 2.

‘Disgrace’ That Chiefs Aren’t Planning Wider Taser Rollout

May Was Not Drawn On Pay

John Apter said Chiefs should know the level of violence against officers.

HMIC’s respect POLICE officers face dangers they cannot anticipate every day and the public only knows part of the debt they owe to the service, Sir Tom Winsor said. Speaking at the Police Federation Conference, HMIC Chief Inspector said he had “enormous respect and admira-tion for rank-and-file officers and the work they do every day”.

Hants Fed FocusPolice Federation Conference Special 2016

2 Hampshire Police Federation Conference Newsletter 2016

POLICE officers can be convicted, fined, banned and sacked for doing their duty when it comes to police pursuits, the Police Federation Conference has heard.

Officers were advised to “seek advice before ever making a statement” in a session called: “Witness or Suspect? Does pursuits legislation really protect police drivers?”

Leading Barrister Mark Aldred – a former police officer – said it was “much better for police to be a suspect that a witness”. He said: “Being told that you’re a witness just makes the officer more vulnerable be-cause witnesses don’t have the same safeguards.”

Mr Aldred (pictured) is a prominent lawyer who successfully defended Hampshire PC James Holden in a high profile Dangerous Driving case in 2012. PC Holden was accused by the Crown Prosecution Ser-vice of putting innocent people at risk during a pursuit through Portsmouth.

He added: “Any pursuit or any response involves risk – it’s not fair to have a system that recognises that every pursuit and response creates risk and when risk materialises then straight away it’s pilot error and the

officer is at fault. Before any [police officer] is asked to make a statement, the officer belief that they haven’t done anything wrong is neither here nor there, espe-cially in a driving case. I would say seek advice before ever making a statement.”

The Police Federation of England and Wales is working with the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) to develop a draft legislation change on this issue.

The Federation is “aiming for this to be debated in Parliament in January 2017”.

POLICE officers should get the proposed 2.8% pay rise because it is not a “figure plucked from the air”, Hampshire Police Federation Chairman John Apter has said.

Speaking after Home Secretary Theresa May refused to be drawn on whether she would ratify the requested 2.8% rise if it is recommended by the Police Remuneration Review Body, he said: “It’s evidence based, it’s been well thought through, it’s not just a figure plucked out of the air.

“I’m not surprised that the Home Secretary didn’t give a view on that because I wouldn’t have expected her to. Most officers don’t think we’re going to get 2.8%, but I absolutely think it’s right and proper that the body that represents them presents a strong evidence-based argument as to

why they should.”

Officers Deserve 2.8% Pay Rise

THE POLICE service must do more to support female officers going through the menopause if they are to retain talented officers and avoid costly employment tribunals.

With an ever-ageing workforce, issues affecting female officers need to be given greater attention, said Dee Collins, President of the British Associa-tion for Women in Policing.

CC Collins, temporary Chief Consta-ble of West Yorkshire Police, said the menopause was the “last unmanaged health taboo” in the police service.

CC Collins said: “Many colleagues may be left feeling isolated and vulnerable at time when they need our support. It can result in a host of health issues – seven in 10 women experience debilitating symptoms.”

Delegates were told women going through the menopause may find it harder to gain promotion..

Menopause Is The Last Taboo

POLICE officers experience twice as much workplace stress as

those in other professions, the Police Federation Annual Confer-

ence has heard.

Up to 38% of officers said they found their job “very or extremely

stressful” compared with just 16% of the rest of the adult popula-

tion, the conference was told.

More than 17,000 police officers from across the country

responded to a survey on mental health this year.

It found that 66% of officers had a workload that was “too high

or much too high” and 78% of officers felt there were not enough

officers in their team to do a proper job.

Che Donald (pictured), PFEW lead on officer welfare and mental

health, said: “Forces have a duty to fix officers when they are broken

by the job.”

Forces’ Duty To ‘Fix’ Officers

Pursuit Drivers Can Face Sack

Hampshire Police Federation Conference Newsletter 2016 3

THE head of The College of Policing has called for consistency when it comes to recording assaults on police officers – and the 7-point plan on what to expect when officers are assaulted.

Alex Marshall, speaking at the Po-lice Federation of England and Wales Annual Conference, questioned why one force had adopted an 8-point plan (Met) and one force had adopted a 10-point plan (West Midlands Police)

when it comes to police assaults. The 7-point plan – pioneered by

Hampshire Constabulary and now adopted by forces across the country – outlines investigation standards and levels of victim care for those assaulted.

Mr Marshall, a former Chief Consta-ble of Hampshire Constabulary, also praised the work of Hampshire Police Federation, and our Chairman John Apter, at the conference.

Forces Should Stick To 7-Point Plan On Assaults

The Impact Of AssaultsPC Steph Wheeler has spoken about the impact being assaulted had on her.

In a video shown to the Police Federation conference, PC Wheeler (pictured) talks openly about feeling scared when she went back to work following the assault and the support she received from the Constabulary and the Police Federation.

PC Wheeler felt strongly that she wanted to share her experience.

She said: “I wanted to speak out about the im-pact being assaulted had on me because I know it is the same for many of my colleagues who very often suffer in silence.

“The support I have received from my Feder-ation rep and the bosses helped me get back on track, they have been so supportive.

“It is so important to give officers who have been assaulted all the support they need. Believe me, it makes a big difference.”

COLLEAGUES across the country have been praising the work of Hampshire Police Federation on combating #AssaultPolice.Kevin Wilson, Secretary of Durham Police Federation, praised our Chairman John Apter for the work he has been doing on this area. “He’s done a fantastic job,” said Kevin. “He’s really put something of importance for our members, which is what we’re here for, the welfare of our members and the support of our members, he’s really put that at the forefront.”Ian Hanson, Chairman of Greater Manchester Police Federation, said: “We’re really grateful for John Apter taking the lead on this – it’s some-thing every force has got to get involved in.”

Assault Praise

4 Hampshire Police Federation Conference Newsletter 2016

Q What have you taken away from this year’s conference? What do you think were the most interesting sessions?

A I think the theme throughout conference has been about supporting our people. I thought the, ‘How blue is the Thin Blue

Line?’ session on mental health was really infor-mative. I think it’s told us things that we probably already knew but it’s good to have it in evidence.

I think with the assault piece and with the pur-suits piece and even the College of Policing, I think it all interweaves about look after your people, give them the right training, the right support, and they’ll look after you.

Tom Winsor surprised me, I was quite taken aback by his emotion and I found his position interesting. I accept that he has been the architect of an awful lot of damage as far as officers are con-cerned. But the reality is that people like him, NPCC lead Sara Thornton and Alex Marshall are very powerful voices within policing and they’re here at our conference talking about things that matter to our members.

There was a real good theme about wellbeing and support, but that’s got to turn into something tangible.

We can’t just come to conference each year and have a good old chat and nothing happens. Every year I take things back to my force and try and embed them and make a difference.

Q What did you think of Home Secretary Theresa May’s speech to the confer-ence this year?

A It’s not the sort of speech I will remember next week, I don’t think much came from it which we either need to be concerned for

or delighted about. The Home Secretary men-tioned the police assault work that I’ve been leading on, which obviously I’m very passionate about. But I think overall there was nothing that really came out of it that got me either concerned or excited.

Q Do you think it’s worth officers taking the risk in police pursuits based on the advice at conference that officers

have no legal protection for pursuit driving?

A The work around pursuits started as a re-sult of a job within Hampshire, the James Holden case. Until now we’ve done lots

of work to build in extra measures of support and

protection, including working with the CPS to get guidance. I was on a national pursuit panel which insisted that standards across the country were standardised. Once we had all of our ducks in a row forces would be far more consistent with their train-ing and the way that they dealt with officers who were involved in not only pursuits but response driving as well. Then came the point about what happens with legislation.

Well actually I do think that there is an unreason-able vulnerability for those officers involved in not only pursuit driving but response driving.

It’s good to hear that this has been raised at the national conference, it’s good to hear that the Na-tional Police Chiefs’ Council are supportive of some discussion around the legal vulnerabilities around

pursuits, but I think it needs to be broader. It needs to also involve, or look at, response as well.

But lots of work has been achieved already on this, still more to do. Do I think that the risk is too great? I think police drivers need to be aware of the risk, I think they need to understand.

As a police officer I don’t want to say to officers, “don’t do it”, because we want to catch bad people and we want to bring people to justice.

What I say to officers is “be aware of the risk”. And actually, the measures we’ve put in place within Hampshire Constabulary do offer an extra level of protection – we’ve seen it in action so it works. But the legislation does need to change.

Q Do you think your members are aware enough of their legal vulnerability as police drivers?

A I think within Hampshire there will be more of an awareness because of the Holden case, but I think it does need to be raised

much further. I think there is frustration that this has taken too long to achieve, I am very frustrated because four or five years ago we raised this issue. But we’ve put an awful lot of measures in place to offer a level of protection.

Ultimately now it’s about a change in law. This is not about allowing officers to drive like the Wacky Races, it’s about making sure there’s an element of protection – not only for police officers but for all emergency drivers.

“There is an unreasonable vulnerability for those officers involved in not only pursuit driving but

response driving”

Conference Q and A with our Chairman John ApterSupporting Our People