In recent years, demand on policing has grown, the conduct of some officers has been in spotlight, and the cost-of-living crisis continues to affect many in the police family.
These challenges mean demand for support from CNP Federation has also grown and a year ago, in response to this, my role in the Federation was made full-time. I had been the vice chair since 2020, balancing it alongside my day job, but with an increase in conduct cases and welfare support requests, the Federation needed more permanent resources.
In terms of what the role involves day-to-day, I lead on operational policy review which means representing the views and needs of members when the Force develops or revisits its policies. As the Federation's health and safety lead, I also work with the Force on things like officers' working environments, equipment, and safety needs. As the deputy conduct and performance liaison officer, I spend time on matters relating to professional standards, conduct, discipline, and performance, particularly ensuring our members get support in these areas.
This is a big part of the Federation's work generally and I take the lead on organising training and development opportunities for our Fed reps, so they are in the best position to offer guidance and support. Since taking up the full-time role twelve months ago I have identified an external training provider and the training delivered so far means we now have a conduct rep at each OPU. I've also developed a small cohort of health and safety reps who will be qualified to IOSH level (the most widely recognised health and safety qualification); we have a NEBOSH accident investigation course planned too.
The nature of our work means mental health challenges are sadly common in the police service. I'm working on providing Mental Health First Aid training for reps as well as post-incident training. The unit rep training seems to be going well and I'm keen to broaden the courses we offer to give reps the knowledge to help members who are facing a range of difficulties.
Looking ahead, we would also like to develop the Federation website and improve the member services area. These are the external services available to the police family including things like loans, investments, mortgages, car financing and insurance. There are companies that offer emergency service workers great discounts, and we want to make these readily accessible to you or at least provide the information so you have a wider choice.
The last year has been a steep learning curve and I've had to improve my awareness and knowledge in the strategic areas of my role. Lots of issues come up that we must deal with there and then, but there are longer-term pieces of work we're involved in that require negotiations with the Force, the Authority or Members of Parliament. Despite my role now being full-time, I have continued to maintain my operational deployability as an AFO. I have attended Sellafield and Bisley to undertake AFO training, and as well as keeping my skills up, that has allowed me to hear from you, my colleagues, and answer your questions.
The one thing that is obvious to me is how outstanding officers are within the CNC when it comes to looking out for each other and the way you show a genuine concern for people's welfare. Unfortunately, we have had officers face hardship, illness and sadly officers have passed away, both serving and retired. But someone will always email or call to either offer a message of support or to raise a concern for a colleague's welfare.
I will end this post with a couple of messages of thanks. Firstly, we want to thank our Federation reps. The support they offer to members is done voluntarily and their commitment to attend the training courses, which sometimes requires extra time spent away from home, is greatly appreciated. Secondly, thank you to our members for your trust and confidence. You do a difficult job and we're here to make that easier, where we can.
We can only help with the problems we know about, so if you have any issues or concerns, please get in touch with us or your local rep. The same goes for any ideas or suggestions you may have.
Darren Adams - Vice Chair, CNP Federation