‘My one regret is not becoming a Fed rep earlier in my career’

21 February 2020

Federation professional development lead Giles Dean has encouraged younger officers to grasp the opportunity to support their colleagues by becoming Federation workplace representatives.

Giles says he regrets waiting until he had more than two decades of service behind him before he became a rep for West Midlands Police Federation.

He said: “Federation reps are assisting colleagues on a daily basis and doing excellent work representing, influencing and negotiating. But a lot of this excellent work gets lost among bigger headline pieces such as pensions and police numbers where there are quite rightly feelings of dissatisfaction.

“When the next elections come up, I would like to see more young in service officers standing for election. My one regret is not becoming a Fed rep until I had 22 years’ service.”

Giles brings a wealth of experience to his role. After graduating from Manchester University with a law degree, his first job was with the Office of Fair Trading in London.

“After a while, I realised that London was not for me and that I needed a new job,” he said, “I saw a coupon in a national paper that I filled in and sent off to register an interest in joining the police, and that was it!

“Six months later I was walking down West Bromwich High Street in a uniform two sizes too big for me, ‘don’t worry son, you’ll grow into it.’ Twenty nine years later I am still here.”

After joining the Force in 1991, Giles’ first posting was on response in West Bromwich. Currently a neighbourhood sergeant in Wednesbury, he remembers his time on the K1 B Unit with particular affection, and said: “A great team, colourful characters, camaraderie and support, just what a team should be.”

Giles added: “The arrest that made the most impact on me was of a predatory paedophile who had just started grooming children. “The job started out with a missing person’s report and from the debrief on the return of the children an area search the following day revealed the offender to be waiting near a pre-arranged meeting point.

“He was arrested and, as this was back in the day when response officers were omnicompetent, I did the video interviews of the children, the interviews of the offender, the court file and made the transport arrangements to crown court.

“When he was convicted and sentenced I felt a real sense of personal achievement.”

Giles became a Fed rep seven years ago after attending a discipline meeting with a PCSO in the capacity of a friend.

“I thought it was an interesting experience and felt I contributed to help them remain in the post,” he said, “It is the problem-solving and negotiation that I enjoy. It is not about table thumping and making demands.

“There is almost always an acceptable solution to most issues and experience has shown that, in most situations, poor communication is at the root of the issue.”

He added: “Being a rep is very rewarding and is a role I would recommend to anyone who cares about their colleagues. It can, however, sometimes be difficult to manage the balance between work and repping as the demand fluctuates significantly.

“Some months there will be very little, perhaps a health and safety walk through or two, and other months it seems everyone needs you.”

Giles specialised in his professional development role three years ago, and says his priority is to ensure officers are treated fairly, trained properly and that new schemes, such as the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship and Degree Holder Entry Programme, work as intended.

“I think it is right now that policing is recognised as a profession with a vocational qualification at the end of three years,” said Giles, who has recently become chair for the Federation’s Health and Safety Committee.

“The increased complexities of the policing environment, the knowledge of law, policy and procedure and the decision-making skills that are required to be effective in the office of constable are of at least degree level.

“I hope this recognition of the required level of professionalism will be reflected in the future pay of police officers.

“It is unfortunate for some of us that, apart from the experience we have gained, we will leave the organisation with no transferable qualifications.

“The opportunity to obtain work-based qualifications is an important step forward and I hope there will be increased opportunities in the future across all departments to obtain properly assessed accreditations.”