Delegates speak out at Federation conference

23 May 2018

Leicestershire Police Federation representatives attending this year’s national Federation conference in Birmingham have given their views on the debates in a series of videos posted on social media.

It is the first time the representatives have given their feedback on conference in this way.

“We wanted to let the wider membership know their reps’ views on the debates taking place at conference as soon as possible and this seemed the best way to do that,” says Tiff Lynch, chair of Leicestershire Police Federation.

“We will still give full accounts of conference in the June edition of our Upbeat magazine as usual, along with more detailed feedback from our reps, but these short films give an insight into the day’s sessions in an easily accessible format.”

The reps’ comments can be seen on both our Facebook and Twitter feeds.

The Federation’s annual conference is being held at Birmingham’s ICC (22 and 23 May) for the second year running.

Day 1’s agenda included a welcome from national Federation chair Calum Macleod, a speech by the new director general of the IOPC, Michael Lockwood, a session on Protect the Protectors, covering officer assaults and emergency response driving, the presentation of the women in policing award, break-out sessions on fatigue, women officers and protecting our streets and a panel discussion around the demand and capacity imbalance.

The final session of the day was a Question Time style debate with police minister Nick Hurd, shadow police minister Louise Haigh, the head of HMICFRS, Sir Thomas Winsor, and the national chair.

While many delegates asked questions of the panellists, and particularly, Mr Hurd, significant points were the police minister admitting that the Federation had won the argument on the need for extra funding for policing and a pledge to call, not just for protection of police funding in the next Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR), but also increased investment.