Download - West Midlands Police Federation

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I would like to reassure you that we are doing
everything we can to make sure that our members are
treated fairly and we will continue to do so.
that many of you will be disappointed by
the result. However, please be assured that,
regardless of the stance taken nationally, we
can use the results of the ballot as part of
our own lobbying of MPs and other
stakeholders as we try to get your views
across to key decision-makers.
For instance, I have written to all our
local MPs on the issue of pensions. As I am
sure you are aware, police office pension
contributions increased again from 1 April
2013. Yet, just a couple of weeks before our
increase came into effect, news came out
that any increase to MPs’ own pension
contributions had been suspended.
Government ministers have talked
repeatedly about fairness and we’ve all
heard the ‘we’re all in this together’ mantra.
But I cannot see the fairness in this and it
really would appear that some of us are
more in this than others. In my letter to the
MPs, I referred to the number of officers
within West Midlands Police Federation
who had voted in favour of the Federation
seeking industrial rights for officers.
Personally, I am not convinced that
officers do actually want to strike but I
believe that many feel their voice is not
being heard. They are seeing their pay cut,
their pensions going up, their conditions of
service changing considerably and they are
frustrated. They want to get on with the job
they signed up to do, but they feel that
their unique status is not being respected.
They are prepared to put their lives on the
line to protect the communities they serve,
but their efforts, they feel, are not being
recognised.
I would like to reassure you that we are
doing everything we can to make sure that
our members are treated fairly and we will
continue to do so.
Turning back to my April 2012
article, I had managed to offer a glimmer
of hope at the end of the article. At that
time, I had met with three of the
potential candidates for the first Police
and Crime Commissioner elections
scheduled for November 2012. As an
aside, turn-out nationally for those
elections was just 15 per cent.
While I cannot recall which three
potential candidates I had met at that stage,
I did acknowledge that they seemed to
understand the points I was making and
seemed to want to engage with us.
I would like to end with a similarly
positive note this time and praise our Police
and Crime Commissioner for his efforts to
improve policing in the West Midlands
and for engaging not just with the
Federation but also the public.
Mr Jones has just appointed a team of
‘champions’, members of his Strategic
Policing and Crime Board, who will take
the lead in business areas such as Children
and Young People, Business and
Technology and New Media. Let’s hope we
can benefit from their expertise in these
areas. We wish them well.
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