A Christmas and New Year message from Hampshire Police Federation Chair Spencer Wragg

23 December 2024

Christmas and New Year are of course no holiday for police officers and policing.

The reality for many of us is Christmas means a mixture of a busy Christmas party night time economy, drink drive operations, sadly an increase in domestic abuse calls, cold turkey and stuffing sandwiches and balancing family time with operational shifts.

I do hope that many of you will have managed to secure some time off from work and are spending Christmas with family and friends, but the reality of policing, unlike many who are looking forward to their “Christmas break”, is that we continue stay open 24/7 throughout the festive season.

If you are off then maximise that time, switch off the laptop and work mobile and enjoy the season.

It is an established fact that policing exposes us to trauma on a scale unheard of in any other job and that doesn’t change over Christmas. We will no doubt see more calls for service from the public who are on their Christmas break.

There will still be emergencies to attend, crimes to investigate and people to help, but it is just as important that we look after ourselves as well.

The term police family is often used to describe us and we certainly have all the attributes of family, we fall out, the kids sometimes argue, there’s always someone who will listen to you but most importantly we all come together in times of crisis and work together to achieve a common goal.

I look back over 2024 and it has certainly provided a number of challenges to us as a family. The loss of three colleagues this year has been felt widely across the force and my thoughts are with their families, friends and colleagues.

We celebrated our National Police Bravery Award winners in the Summer and they went on to secure the regional award in London. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3gvd1gzlr9o

We are currently looking for nominations for our 2025 nominee as well so if you know of anyone or teams, please let me know.

The summer also saw the murders is Southport and the summer disorder and OP Navette, with a full mobilisation across the country.

Many of us worked long hours and covered 100’s of miles both in and out of force supporting the response to the disorder. All of this at one of the busiest demand periods for the force.

The recent HMIC report in the response to the disorder makes interesting reading https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpvn0dnnyj3o

As a Federation locally we have provided over 40 welfare breaks to officers and their families in times of crisis.
These breaks are available throughout the year and can be applied for through one of your local reps. It is just one of the things that we can do to provide support to you with. Many of our reps will be working alongside you over the festive period, providing support to you.

As ever over Christmas you never know what will happen.

Please stay safe and look after yourselves, whether your Christmas is going to being on shift or around the dinner table I wish you a very Merry Christmas.