Page 17 - BedFed Dec2018 Flipbook

29 July
The Care of Police Survivors memorial service is held at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire. The new Bedfordshire chapter of the Police Unity Tour join other sponsored cyclists from forces across England and Wales riding into the arboretum at the end of their ride from Bedfordshire.
7 August
A PFEW survey discovers that more police officers than ever (7.8 per cent) have taken second jobs, up from 6.3 per cent of respondents in 2017. A staggering 44.8 per cent said they worry about the state of their personal finances either every day or almost every day and more than one in nine (11.8 per cent) said they never or almost never have enough money to cover all of their essentials.
11 August
The Government should be investing the millions of pounds being spent on police over-time in England and Wales employing more officers. That was the Federation response to figures which revealed more than £1.7 billion has been spent on police over- time in the whole of the UK since 2013.
15 August
Nearly 2,000 police officers voluntarily quit the service over the past 12 months – an increase of 31 per cent over the past four years according to a PFEW leavers’ survey. More than half (52.5 per cent) cited morale as their reason for leaving.
28 August
1 August
The new national chair of PFEW, John Apter, who was formerly chair of Hampshire Police Federation, takes over from Calum Macleod. The 2018 elections were the first to take place under the new process recommended by the Federation’s 2014 Independent Review.
elected to the new Police Federation National Board and will take
The new national chair of PFEW, John Apter.
Firearms officers will now have to pass two tests which detect for colour blindness instead of one – meaning officers could be told they can no longer do the role.
legitimate aim.
“Previously, officers were required to pass
on one of two CVD tests; they now need to pass on both. Retrospective testing is also taking place for those who previously
Essex, Humberside, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, City of London, the Ministry of Defence and the Metropolitan police.
Twenty-two representatives from across England and Wales were
College of Policing.
7 September
Currently, the rules have caused issues in
a number of police forces including Devon
and Cornwall, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, advice on colour vision deficiencies.”
Colour blindness
tests could hit firearms officers
up their roles from 1 September.
3 September
New rules designed to detect if
firearms officers have colour
vision problems could be
discriminatory and seriously
reduce the number of armed
police officers in the country, the
Federation warns. The new rules have been introduced by the
bee
t ann
it
And it’s reported that at least one police The Police Federation of England and undertook these tests and identified with officer is already taking legal action over the
Wales has said the new rules, which have mild CVD.” new tests for CVD or colour blindness.
A
Policing said: “The key points which the standards establish are the ability to identify a subject based on a description, of which colour could be a significant factor, particularly where this may lead to pre- emptive use of force or officers using lethal force or firearms, and the ability to operate firearms with a red dot sight system.
“However, the testing which officers have to undergo if they fail screening, was updated last year. The changes do not exclude all officers with colour vision deficiency but only those below a certain threshold. The standards were reviewed based on the role, equipment and expert technical and medical
ould be discriminatory and seriously reduce the
number of armed police officers in the country.
It says the regulations could be discriminatory on grounds of disability and gender, because most of the 6,459 armed officers in England and Wales are male, and men are much more likely than women to suffer from Colour Vision Deficiency (CVD).
Federation vice-chair Ché Donald said: “The test is intended to screen out CVD sufferers, yet we know from extensive research studies that the tests used are unreliable and do not achieve the objectives set out by the college and are not a proportionate means to achieving a
I
Ché continued: “This single-handedly could destroy the uplift. Hundreds will be affected. This is because CVD is mainly prevalent in the male population and firearms units are still predominantly composed of male officers and CVD affects one in 12 men and one in 200 women. Firearms officers are absolutely distraught.”
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was boosting the number of armed officers by 1,500 in response to the increased terrorist threat. However, this uplift has not been met with the latest figures showing the total is some 700 officers short of that.
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A national Federation survey reveals custody roles are becoming
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duties as soon as possible - up from 18.9 per cent last year. By comparison, only 2.5 per cent of firearms officers wanted to switch jobs and less than eight per cent of detectives.
11 - 12 September
The national Federation custody seminar is attended by officers from across the country.
30 September
Bedfordshire Police
Federation chair Jim
Mallen, secretary
Emma Carter and
workplace
representatives Kelly
Reynolds, Hob Hoque,
Chris Smith and
Hayley Hunter joined
the Chief Constable
Jon Boutcher at the
National Police
Memorial Day service
in Belfast. The service
honours police officers who have died or been killed in the line of duty. This year, to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, a wreath is laid in remembrance of police officers who died while serving in the armed forces during the 1914 – 1918 conflict.
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increasingly unpopular with nearly one in four (22.5 per cent) of custody officers wanting to be redeployed away from detention
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The standards are lowered in honour of fallen officers at National Police Memorial Day service in Belfast.
Continued on Page 19
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