Page 4 - Here For You 2013

Of course, this look back on 2013 would not be balanced if we were not to mention some of the more positive developments of the year. Perhaps most notably here in the West Midlands, our PCC announced plans to open recruitment once more, a move we have, of course, welcomed. The Force will recruit 450 new officers over the next two years, ending the five-year freeze on recruitment. We are also pleased to have been invited to be involved in the recruitment process. I would like to conclude by congratulating three of our officers who were singled out for awards last year. PC Stephen Fletcher and PC Rory Stuart-Knill won the Regional Police Bravery Award and PC Wayne Brown won our Copper’s Copper Award. They are just three examples of the great work that our members are doing day in day out, despite the challenging times we are living in and regardless of the increased pressure they are under, trying to deliver a high quality policing service, while demand increases but police numbers fall. We hope that you find this review document interesting. Let us know your views by emailing us at westmidlandspf@polfed.org Ian Edwards Chairman West Midlands Police Federation Secretary’s Summary By the very nature of our work, much of what we do is reactive. As a Federation, we have to react to what our members bring to us in terms of discipline and work related issues and we have to respond to the agenda of the Government, hence our work around Winsor implementation. We have to consult with the Police and Crime Commissioner on issues he raises and we work closely with the Chief Constable and his management team discussing their plans, raising our concerns and putting forward the views of members. But alongside this, we were also involved in two proactive campaigns during 2013 – our second annual stress study and our debt management initiative with both projects continuing into 2014. The stress survey revealed some startling statistics with 800 officers responding, 664 constables and 104 sergeants. A total of 38 per cent of PCs and 45 per cent of sergeants reported their job to be ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressful and there was an increase in those ranks suffering from ‘burn-out’ or high emotional exhaustion.