Matt Curson is the new Secretary of Hampshire Police Federation

19 June 2025

Q: Can you tell us a bit about your career history?

A: I've been a police officer for nearly 18 years now. I spent the first seven years as a response police officer in an area car, tutoring student PCs and Special Constables. I then moved into CID, where I was a Detective Constable for three and a half years, and then got promoted to Detective Sergeant in 2019. As DS, I led a CID team before moving over to MAPPA (multi-agency public protection arrangements) to deal with serious sex offenders and serious violent offenders. I did that for three years before taking up this position as full-time Federation Secretary.

Q: How long have you been involved in the Federation?

A: I’ve been a Fed Rep for four years. As a line manager, I had officers that needed some help and access to Federation resources, and I saw the good work that Fed Reps did. I’ve also needed the Federation’s support in the past, and they really helped me. My father was a Fed Rep in his time with Hampshire Constabulary, so I effectively followed in his footsteps! I have always had an ability to talk to anyone - irrespective of differing opinion, which is something that has helped me throughout my policing career. As a Rep, this has stood me in good stead when talking with officers and being able to give them an honest view and has also earnt me the respect of senior managers who are willing to listen to my views.

Q: Why did you step up to become Secretary?

A: As a line manager, I always liked helping officers sort out their issues and problems. I've got a young family myself, so I also understand some of the trials and tribulations that go with that. Being a Fed Rep gave me more tools of the trade to be able to offer support. When the opportunity to become Secretary came up, I went for it as I thought there were lots of skills I could bring to the post. In my last role I picked up a lot from working with partner agencies on a regular basis - effective collaborative working is such a positive in trying to effect change and deal with issues that arise. I’m a very organised person, and I've been used to working in an office environment in my previous role.

Q: What are your aims as Secretary?

A: One big one is that I want us to look after Fed Reps as well as the membership. I want Fed Reps to get regular one-to-ones and check-ins, because being a Rep is really difficult. You do it alongside your day job, which people sometimes forget, and although they should get check-ins with their line manager around their day-to-day job, they also need welfare support from us full-time Reps to support them with their Federation work.

I also want to make the Federation more visible, going to police stations across the force and having an open-door policy so people can talk to us and ask us questions. We’ll support our workplace Reps to get some meetings in the diary with their local members, and a full-time Rep will go along to support them, so that we’re not just a picture on a screen.

In my last role I did a lot of work to make our department policies and procedures current and, more importantly, fit for purpose. This is something I will be working on over the next triennial period with the board to make sure that as a branch we run smoothly and effectively.

Q: What’s your message to the members?
A: We're here to support you. If you need us, please pick up the phone, drop us an email or visit the office. No question is too big and no problem to small. If you see areas that we can improve - please tell us! I am a big believer in 360 feedback, if we don’t hear your views or you don’t tell us what we aren’t doing, we won’t improve! I also want to highlight that we are here to support line managers too - all ranks up to Chief Inspector. We often find ourselves representing constable level, which is obviously where the majority of our members are but we are also here to help line managers on what they can and can't do, and offer them assistance with anything - from HR policies to supporting their teams. We know that many of them are working long hours and are under a lot of stress - we are not just here to support your teams, we are here to support you too.