Christmas and New Year message from Surrey Police Federation Chair Darren Pemble

21 December 2023

As we come to the end of another year, I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of everybody at Surrey Police Federation to express our sincere thanks to you all for your hard work and dedication over 2023.

Christmas and New Year are no holidays for many police officers.

Many of you will be sacrificing your Christmas to be out there policing across our county and keeping all of us safe, at the expense of time at home with your loved ones and we are all grateful for your work.

I was delighted to be elected as your new Chair this year. We as a Branch have tried to be much more visible and contactable by you, our membership.

It’s been a difficult year as a Force, we are in transition as we seek to improve our performance to deliver a better service to the Surrey public.  

We have welcomed a new Chief Constable Tim De Meyer who has been really supportive with your federation and keen to simplify policing in Surrey. I pass on my thanks to the Chief and his Chief officer team with special thanks to Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp for his energy and support this year. I also want to say a thank you to our PCC Lisa Townsend and her team for the work they do behind the scenes and their ongoing support for policing in Surrey.

2024 looks set to continue to challenge policing - but with a General Election on the horizon, it also presents an opportunity to remind our politicians, the public and the press about the reality of the job, the challenges we face in policing and the great work that you all do. 

And we once again look forward to highlighting colleagues for their superb work at our annual Awards in December. Our first event this year was excellent, and we were delighted to celebrate so many great police officers with friends and family. 

If you need your Federation over the Christmas and New Year period, we will be on call and available to you for urgent matters via the Force control room.

Please be safe out there and we hope you can find time to enjoy the festivities with friends and family.

On behalf of your Surrey Police Federation, I would like to wish all Police Officers and our Policing Family a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2024.

For those of you working over the Christmas and New Year period, look after each other and be safe.