Op Trelawny Planning Update

12 May 2021

Colleagues

The Cornwall G7 event is less than a month away, and the enormity of the event and the impact on officers being rostered to work the event or having to keep business as usual is now being felt by all.  The challenges to the organisation are unprecedented and clearly the impact on D&C officers, as well as those who are attending on mutual aid, is of significant concern to your Federation Branch Board.

We have been fortunate to have been consulted by Op Trelawny on those key issues which affect the welfare of our members.  We have representation at GOLD, Silver, various strands of logistics meetings and Wellbeing meetings.  Through those meetings, our team response to the force is led and coordinated by our Branch Secretary Jim Purkiss.

We have, from the outset, also been supported by two of our National Federation colleagues who are the operational policing leads for the Federation and were involved in other previous large deployments such as the most recent visit by the POTUS.  Because GOLD has involved us from the outset we have not disagreed that the scale of the event, and relatively short period of time to plan, makes it fit within the meaning of an exigency of duty (being ‘unforeseen’ is not a commanding criteria within the definition of exigency).  But, irrespective of this perspective, we have vigorously challenged the force to put the welfare of officers at the top of the agenda and particularly with respect to lengths of shifts, lengths of deployments, quality of accommodation and general welfare such as adequate breaks, medical care and decent feed provisions.  The safety of officers, given the likelihood of protest, is also a priority for us.

At this point in time, we know that many of your, and my, colleagues are engaged on the planning of this event and are working really hard to do the best for all those who will be involved.  However, whilst Jim and I are more confident about the proposed arrangements in some areas we have some significant concerns in others and conversations continue at the appropriate levels.  No doubt we will update you further in the near future.

All of our full time Federation reps, together with a further 8 Fed reps from other forces, will be available 24/7, throughout the deployment, to support officers and will be as visible as we can be during the event.  Our colleagues from North Wales, Hertfordshire and Thames Valley will be supporting us with their Federation welfare vans which we will make sure are full of some edible goodies.

As a final point the force, not us, are responsible for telling you, as individuals, what is expected from you and obviously there is also the SharePoint G7 site.  However, should you have any specific concerns about your deployment then please do not hesitate to e-mail or call into the Fed office.

Regards

Inspector Andrew Berry

Chair, Devon & Cornwall Police Federation