Apology from Essex Police regarding officer accommodation for Trump visit

13 July 2018

West Midlands Police Federation has welcomed the fact that police officers providing support for those forces most affected by President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK are being moved out of the unsatisfactory accommodation they were provided with last night.

The Federation had expressed its disgust that officers stationed in Essex overnight on Wednesday were on camp beds, tightly packed into sports halls with limited access to hot showers and hot food.

“For the first time, I can remember, many of our officers involved in this deployment had not volunteered to support this mutual aid operation so a good number of our 450 plus officers sent to Thames Valley and Essex for this visit were compelled to undertake this role,” says Steve Grange, secretary of West Midlands Police Federation.

“The very least they could expect before embarking on 12-hour shifts in considerable heat was a decent night’s sleep in reasonable accommodation. Instead, I am told, due to the staggered start times of their shifts and the conditions in which they found themselves, some only managed a few hours’ broken sleep. This is unacceptable.”

Essex Police has now apologised to those officers affected and found alternative accommodation with ACC Pippa Mills from Essex Police saying: “Security, welfare and wellbeing of those officers has been paramount at all times. As soon as we became aware of issues surrounding some of the accommodation provided actions were taken to rectify these. I would like to apologise to the officers affected. The conditions which I have been made aware of are not acceptable.”

But Steve, while welcoming the Force addressing the issues raised, has still expressed his disappointment.

“Of course, we appreciate the apology and the acknowledgement that they got this wrong but I still question how anyone could really have looked at the set-up of the sports halls and thought that it was suitable accommodation for police officers?” he says.

“President Trump’s visit has been planned for weeks now and surely someone should have paid more attention to how the police officers inevitably needed to support host forces could be provided with somewhere reasonable to rest, eat and shower?

“Our officers are already under enormous strain trying to meet increased demand with reduced resources and this has just added to the pressures they are facing.”