New national Federation chair is named

31 March 2022

West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke has congratulated new national chair Steve Hartshorn on his election success.

Steve, a National Board member and firearms and Taser lead, was confirmed as the second national chair to be voted in by police officers across England and Wales and takes office on 1 April.

Rich said: “We are very much looking forward to working with Steve to make sure our voices are heard and a better deal for policing is secured.

“Steve has expertise in armed policing and less lethal options like Taser so I’m hoping to work with him to assist with our current local campaigns in particular. Policing has been through a very challenging few years and the Police Federation needs to move forward with a strong and committed leadership team and a national chair who has a solid mandate and the full support of the membership.

“There is lots of work to be done and the members that voted believe Steve has the vision to steer the organisation in the right direction.” 

Steve joined the Metropolitan Police in 1995, before moving to the Met’s Firearms Command. He became a Federation rep because he wanted to help colleagues that were going through a difficult time.

He said: “I feel incredibly honoured to have been elected the next national chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales. 

“I would like to acknowledge the hard work of Brian Booth and Ché Donald for standing as candidates and running very strong campaigns - they have my respect for being professional throughout. 

“My sincere thanks goes to everyone who voted for me, from the National Council nomination stage, to the membership for getting involved in the vote. The level of support and encouragement I have received has helped me through the process and means a great deal to me.  

“I am looking forward to working with the National Council, the National Board and our members to seek the very best we can for policing, and with support, I genuinely believe we can make our voices heard to secure a better deal for policing.”