Supporting colleagues

4 November 2019

Terasa Holden became a member of Hertfordshire Police Federation when she joined the Force in May 2010 as she felt it was important to know that someone had her back.

But three years ago, spurred on by colleagues who said she would be good at it, she became a Federation workplace representative out of a desire to help other officers.

“It can be challenging dealing with senior officers as I am a PC but it is rewarding when I have helped and supported someone, making a tough situation a little less hard for them,” Terasa explains.

Currently working as a hate crime officer covering East Hertfordshire and Broxbourne, Terasa has undertaken the initial Federation reps’ course at the Federation’s headquarters in Leatherhead and also the equality course. Much of her Federation work to date has been dealing with Regulation 13s.

Her career started with three months working on intervention at Cheshunt and she then spent some time on Scorpion, returning to shift in November 2016 before moving to her current role in October 2018.

Working with a tighter budget, Terasa believes, has put pressure on the Force’s welfare provisions at a time when officers are suffering stress and mental ill health because of their heavy workloads and the nature of the incidents they deal with.

“This then puts pressure on the Federation. Officers are working in smaller teams, coping with increased demand and also having to work until an older age,” she explains.