Get to know your Federation reps: Rupert Beynon

31 August 2021

Rupert Beynon has served the people of Haverhill for almost 25 years as a beat officer and frontline response officer.

And he uses his wealth of experience to support his Suffolk Police colleagues as a Federation rep, a role he first took up in 2007.

“I provide a frontline perspective to the Federation branch and can also support those in the station on a day-to-day basis,” said Rupert, who has twice been awarded the Sheepshanks Trophy for outstanding service to the community.

“I enjoy being accessible to those officers new in the world of response and being able to answer the day-to-day questions that are often asked.

“My key priorities are supporting new recruits on the shift and at the station,” added Rupert, who has undergone basic rep, and health and safety training. He is also a mental health first aider.

He said his Federation role is rewarding but is not without its challenges.

“It can be difficult to get to meetings as I do a 222 shift system,” said Rupert, “Covid has also brought its own challenges and the change to online meetings has been a challenge. Not so much is gained compared to face-to-face meetings.

“Fitting in a response officer’s role along with Fed rep work can be tricky at times but also rewarding.”

Rupert said that he has seen a lot of changes, for good and bad, during his time in the Force and with the Federation.

“There have been good things I have witnessed over my time as a frontline officer,” he said, “Modernisation of uniform and equipment, body armour, the introduction of Tasers.

“But there have been bad things also. The morale has never been so low. The uplift in officer numbers mean Boris’ Bobbies are being used to create more proactive teams in Suffolk, rather than bolstering shift numbers.

“And they should be increasing CIU capacity rather than taking the few officers off the streets to do interviews during the night when CIU do not work.

“Officers need to be more thought of, rather than just a number. When I see a good officer who has completed his two years on my shift, for him to want to leave to join the Met purely because of low shift numbers, very high workload and the massive problem with the Athena recording system and overly complicated file completion. This officer has applied to join the Met and no one of any senior rank has made contact with him to try to stop him leaving, which is sad.”

He added: “There’s the need for the creation of domestic abuse teams. Suffolk doesn’t have one where most other forces do. This has a massive drain on frontline officers, who are carrying a very high workload and investigating high-risk domestics.

“The challenge facing the police service is to regain the respect of the public and to revert to old-style boots on the ground beat officers to get the public back on side and get back into hard to reach communities.”