Chair thanks public for their support

15 April 2020

The chair of West Midlands Police Federation has thanked the public for their ‘wonderful’ support for officers over the warm Bank Holiday Easter weekend.
 
But Jon Nott added a caveat that a small minority of people still had to be educated about the need to adhere to Government restrictions on movement and public gatherings.
 
“Those restrictions have been put in place to not only save lives but to ease the burden on the NHS amid the coronavirus pandemic,” Jon says.
 
“The vast majority of the public have been wonderful in the way they have helped us deal with a challenging situation though and the Federation and its members would like to thank them for that.
 
“By policing the lockdown with public-facing patrols, officers are not only bravely putting their own health at risk but also that of their families who they return to at the end of a shift. The fewer people they meet on patrol at the minute, the less chance they have of contracting the virus.”
 
As well as staying at home to aid the police, there have been numerous examples of kind gifts and donations making their way to West Midlands officers from members of the public or groups and organisations wanting to show their support.
 
The 2nd Wordsley Rainbows, for example, donated Easter eggs to front-line officers at Brierley Hill Police Station, with the Rainbows leader Rachel Dugmore saying: “This is a little pick-me-up for all of their hard work.”
 
Oldbury police officers expressed their gratitude to Bristnall Hall Academy in Sandwell after they dropped off some ‘amazing’ home-made cakes to the station.
 
Jon explains: “Those little gestures make the world of difference to an officer’s day.”
 
By way of returning the goodwill, a Force motorbike bought a huge amount of joy to one young man when a lady called Anita Owen posted a video on Twitter of an officer on a motorbike making a brief visit to the front drive of a child who was dressed head to toe as a policeman on his own mini version of a police bike.
 
The video attracted well over 12,000 views in the first 24 hours.