Fed rep determined to drive change and give members a voice
19 July 2023
West Midlands Police Federation workplace rep Gemma Griffith has vowed to use her platform to advocate for members, bring improvements to the workplace and challenge senior officers if she feels such a response is necessary.
Gemma took on the role two years ago and said she put herself forward 'out of sheer frustration'.
She said: “The Federation is a funny beast. Those that have used the Police Federation at their worst times describe it as the best thing in the world and can be really positive about their experiences.
“But I also used to hear a lot of negativity and regularly heard officers moan that they were going to stop paying their subscriptions. I was naïve to a lot of the good work the Fed did.”
Gemma became a sergeant and said her main motivation for promotion was to make the workplace a better place for officers which went hand-in-hand with joining the Federation.
“I’m a big believer that we shouldn’t moan about things if we don’t make attempts to make changes ourselves,” she continued.
“I am a confident individual who is happy to challenge rank if required and could see some of the challenges we were facing as a Force.
“I thought becoming a Fed rep would give me more of a platform to assist and make better so I nominated myself for the role.”
Gemma said she brings to the role a promise to provide whatever support members ask of her.
“I can’t always give the results people want, but I will challenge what’s not right and update members to ensure a conclusion is reached,” she explained.
“I pride myself in always replying to emails and helping where I can. If I don’t know the answer, I will find someone who does.”
Gemma admitted that she is really enjoying the role and its differences from her day job. She also felt she was solving people’s workplace issues while making them happier at work.
She acknowledged it was sometimes difficult when people did not get the results they had hoped for but stressed she was always realistic and honest about what can be achieved.
She added: “Sometimes people come to you as a last resort and want you to be able to wave a magic wand and be able to influence legislation and decisions that have been made fairly, even if it isn’t what the member wants to hear.
“So it’s hard when I can’t give members what they always want, but it's about managing expectations and being honest in what we can do.”
Gemma admitted she was not particularly technical and sometimes found Force regulations and ways of working things out 'mind-blowing'.
However, she said she was good at making challenges in relation to welfare issues and ensuring members get the answers they want within a fair timeframe.
“Sometimes I find just a bit of badgering and persistent contact gets results members have been seeking for a long time and this is really satisfying,” she said.
“I’m very much at the start of my Police Federation career and am currently finding my feet and settling into the role. I am keen for this to be a long-term role so I can keep learning and keep supporting and my aim is to gather more and more knowledge in order to assist our members.”
Gemma's advice for anyone considering putting themselves forward to being a Fed rep? Make sure their heart is in it.
“It's very clear when reps don’t really want to be doing the role and this really impacts trust and confidence with our members,” she added.
“No one forces you to do this role, you have to do it because you want to.
“It’s hard work but extremely rewarding and when people give you that thanks for what you have done it makes the role completely worth it.”
Gemma believes the future challenges faced by the Police Federation are deeply entwined with those which are also faced by the Force.
She said: “We seem to get busier and busier with less and less staff and this has massive effects on our staff and morale.
“As Fed reps, we need to ensure our members are listened to and taken seriously and that challenges are, when appropriate, made against breaches in regs and unfair rulings.
Gemma said the move to a much younger-in-service Force has created its own issues which needed to be faced head-on, adding: "Some of our younger-in-service members need educating about the Police Federation and how it can work for them.
“I have been so busy in recent months working with student officers and the Force needs to recognise the issues our student officers are facing and needs to adapt to meet their needs and listen to what they are saying.”
Gemma said she has been 'blown away' by the diligence, care and hard work that goes on behind the scenes at the branch but felt more could be done to get this across to the membership.
“Police officers are busy people who don’t always have the chance to click on an article or open a magazine and I feel we really need to get better at displaying our hard work to our members so they can see what we are doing. This would be my main aim going forward,” continued Gemma, who joined the Force in 2008 having come from a family of police officers.
“I feel it was in my blood even though it wasn’t necessarily something I had always wanted to do.
“It was almost like a eureka moment following four years at university studying geography and realising I probably wasn’t going to fall into a job earning millions and travelling the world.
“My dad had recently retired, my uncle was still serving and I naturally accepted this was my path in life.”
Her first posting was on response in Willenhall, Walsall and she remembers working with the sergeant on her first shift because everyone else already had permanent partners and spending the night with the car window wide open trying to stay awake.
“I have been lucky in my 15 years of policing to experience numerous different job roles and feel variety has kept me really interested in policing,” she said.
“When the days come that I start to drag my heels going into work I know it will be time for a change.”
Career highlights include making a difference by in-depth problem-solving in neighbourhood roles and feeling like she has genuinely changed people’s lives for the better.
