Conference brought unity and purpose, says new full-time rep
12 December 2025
New student officer lead Sergeant Leyton Phillips attended the conference at the NEC in Birmingham, describing the event as ‘impactful’ and ‘reassuring’.
Leyton, who is also the branch treasurer, vice chair and deputy conduct lead, said one of the main things he took away from the conference was from a powerful session on police officer suicide.
Conference heard calls for the mandatory recording of all police officer suicides and attempted suicides.
Crisis
PFEW said the current lack of official data meant policing had ‘no real understanding’ of the scale of the crisis facing its workforce.
“That discussion really hit home for me,” said Leyton, who has been an officer for 21 years.
“You can’t truly understand a problem without data, so the call for all forces to record suicides and attempted suicides is a really important one.
“Once you’ve got the data, you can identify causes and look at meaningful solutions.”
Conference panel discussion on officer suicides and attempted suicides
Another major takeaway for Leyton was the direction the Federation is moving in, and the sense of unity among delegates.
“The organisation feels more stable and more professional than it has for a long time,” he said.
“The speeches from (chair) Tiff Lynch and (chief executive) Mukund Krishna I think really demonstrated that.
Recovery
“After a couple of rocky years, the Federation feels like it’s on a strong path to recovery.”
Leyton also highlighted the benefit of an in-person conference and being in the same room as Fed reps from across the country.
“You get a much clearer picture of what people are experiencing and what issues are coming through nationally,” he said.
“I came away feeling we’re heading in the right direction, and it’s given people a clear focus for the work ahead.”
READ MORE: Read more from the Conference in our new winter magazine.
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