The increased numbers of fatigued officers struggling to cope with the pressures of the job, cancelled rest days and extended shifts were among the subjects covered on the first day of this year’s Police Federation conference being held at Birmingham’s ICC.
Other topics included the need for more change at the IOPC to draw a halt to lengthy investigations, the demand and capacity imbalance and the Protect the Protectors campaign on officer assaults and response drives.
But one of the highlights of the day was a Question Time style session involving the police minister, Nick Hurd, who seemed to herald the possible dawn of a new era in terms of relations between the Home Office and the Police Federation.
He told delegates the Federation had won the argument in terms of the need for an end to police cuts and said more money had already been put into policing, with more on its way.
Mr Hurd pledged not just to seek to protect police budgets in the next Government Comprehensive Spending Review, but to call for increased funds.
“However, when he was asked to commit to accepting in full the recommendations of the Police Remuneration Review Body which considers police officer pay, he was less strident,” says Jim Mallen, chair of Bedfordshire Police Federation, “He said he couldn’t do that without seeing the content of the recommendations.
“Nevertheless he called on the Federation to work with him so we could go forward together.”
The conference observed a minute’s silence for the victims of the Manchester Arena bomb on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack.
The Federation’s annual conference is being held at Birmingham’s ICC for the second year running.
Wednesday’s conference will include a discussion around pay and conditions, a keynote speech by the national chair and break-out sessions on detectives and counter-terrorism.
Full reports on conference will be featured in the next edition of our Bedfed magazine.
