Christmas and New Year message from Devon and Cornwall Police Federation

23 December 2020

In a year that has provided immense challenges to UK policing I have never been more proud to represent the officers working tirelessly across Devon & Cornwall to keep their communities safe.

When people first become police officers they attest to carry out their duties without fear or favour and this year it has never been more true.

Officers are familiar with danger but the coronavirus pandemic has meant that officers potentially put their loved ones in danger every time they book on duty – but they still book on duty.

Officers have also had to walk a tightrope to educate and where necessary enforce the COVID regulations, this has sadly brought them into conflict with many sections of the community who don’t wish their freedoms curtailed – but officers never deflect from their duty.

As a local Police Federation Branch we have worked hard this year to represent many individual officers for all sorts of reasons, from flexible working applications to gross misconduct investigations but even if you haven’t directly needed Federation help we are still working tirelessly, in the background, with the force to help ensure that you get the right support to enable you to do your job whether that is enough PPE, speeding up internal investigations or implementing the 9 point plan for assaults.

As we move into 2021, hoping that the promise of Covid-19 vaccination will bring a new start, Federation thoughts start turning towards our own fresh start with the triennial elections which will run during the summer.

Ensuring that the ‘Branch Council’ is representative of our workforce is critical. Not only representative of our membership by age, sex, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, but also rank and role.

We will run some events to ‘recruit’ new Reps but if being a Federation Rep is something that you have thought about then please have a chat with an existing rep or give me a call.

Before I finish - and bearing in mind that it is the season of giving and receiving - I also want to mention our affiliated charity: The Devon & Cornwall Peelers. This charity is there to help you provide a small act of kindness to someone that you might have dealt with as a victim or witness to a crime. An opportunity for you to maybe replace a stolen item, give a small gift or a fun day out for a family suffering trauma.

Find out more from this link https://dcpeelers.org/

Finally may I wish you and your loved ones a happy and peaceful Christmas, especially if you are working and particularly for those of you working on Christmas Day which might mean that you won’t get the chance to see your loved ones over Christmas at all.