Policing Minister pays tribute to fallen officers as Police Federation Annual Conference opens

21 October 2026

Policing Minister Sarah Jones promises £2.4 million for wellbeing support and a major reform programme after the Federation opens its Annual Conference, calling for an honest account of life on the frontline.

Sarah Jones used a video message to open Day One of the two-day event, to pay tribute to officers killed on duty and to promise more support for the mental health of the frontline.

She began by remembering those officers who have died in the last 12 months. “Today and always, we remember their sacrifice,” she said, adding: “We think of their loved ones, and we stand with the policing family.” 

Ms Jones spoke about attending the funerals of Cleveland Police Officers Matthew Blades and Tom Clough, as well as Northumbria Police’s Jess Turnbull, adding that any death in the line of duty was ‘the most painful reminder’ of the risks officers face to keep the public safe.

Victims

She praised officers for attending emergencies, arresting suspects, supporting victims and reassuring communities. She said she knew officers did so out of ‘duty and commitment to a calling that is much more than a job’.

She told delegates that knife crime was falling and that the rebuilding of neighbourhood policing was taking effect, but acknowledged ‘big challenges’, saying crime was evolving at pace while the system officers work in had not kept up. 

Policing Minister Sarah Jones addressed Conference via a video link

She set out a major police reform programme to redesign the national infrastructure, give local teams better technology and kit, put more neighbourhood officers on visible patrols and free officers up ‘to do the work they joined up to do’.

Discussing the wellbeing of members, Ms Jones said that when help is needed ‘it must be accessible, and it must be of the highest quality’. She then announced £2.4 million this year to expand support services, including better trauma support, expanded psychological risk assessments to identify those at risk earlier, and round-the-clock access to confidential mental health support. 

Improvements

She has also asked His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to examine the issue and identify where further improvements may be needed.

The Police Minister’s message followed an opening address from the Federation’s acting deputy national chair, Paul Williams.

Paul reflected on the title of this year’s event - ‘The Real State of Policing’ - saying that the reality is one of officers starting a shift exhausted from the last, of an unsustainable workforce being expected to fill the gaps left by others. He spoke about officers trying to be a mum, a dad, a husband, a wife and a friend at the end of it all. 

“That’s the real state of policing,” he told delegates.

Honesty

Over the course of the Conference, Paul said the Federation would speak honestly about the pressures facing members and their families, covering pay, welfare, working conditions, the future of the service, and what reform must mean for the people expected to deliver it. The Federation would also look at itself, he said, including where it had got things wrong and what it needed to change to represent members properly.

Behind every debate, statistic and headline, he said, are people who put on a uniform and accept responsibilities that most of the public will never have to carry.

Paul said the Federation also remembered colleagues lost through illness and, tragically, suicide. “Behind every one of those deaths is a family grieving,” he said, before asking everyone in the room to stand. The room then remembered this year’s Roll of Honour, which records officers who have died on duty. 

This year’s Conference continues today (Wednesday 21 October) and tomorrow (Thursday 22 October).

We will be keeping members updated throughout the next two days.