Chair shines light on sacrifices made by members

8 August 2024

The chair of West Midlands Police Federation has thanked members for their ‘bravery, skill and professionalism’ during the ongoing protests across the UK.

Rich Cooke said officers had been working tirelessly in the West Midlands and to support colleagues elsewhere in the country as part of national contingency plans.

West Midlands Police officers have helped their colleagues in Nottingham, Liverpool, Rotherham, and Tamworth, as well as policing demonstrations in the West Midlands.

He said: “This is a challenging time for policing, for the Force, and for our members.

Unprecedented conditions

“They are working incredibly hard, over long periods, in unprecedented conditions at times.

“I would like to thank officers for the bravery, skill and professionalism they have displayed and continue to display. They are now working 12 hours a day, in the school holidays, which is a particular sacrifice for those with young families. And we must remember there are no ‘additional’ officers, only officers redeployed from other duties or working for longer.

“Thankfully we have not had reports of injuries to our officers, but we send our support to those elsewhere in the country who have been injured in the violence.

There have been scenes of violent protest across the region and whole country.

“Officers should not go to work to be faced with such violence – it is completely unacceptable.”

Rich said comments made by Prime Minister Keir Starmer that rioters behind the violent disorder would face ‘the full force of the law’ needed to be backed up with support for officers.

Speaking at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (6 August), Sir Keir said violent disorder was ‘not protest’ and should be treated as ‘criminal activity’.

Sir Keir said the government would ‘take all necessary action to bring the disorder to an end’.

Riots

Rich said: “The Prime Minister, and in recent days, the Home Secretary, have both said the police should use full force of the law to bring riots under control. But all too often, officers find themselves condemned by media and politicians and are pursued by an increasingly arbitrary misconduct regime that has undermined their confidence.

“The very real concern is that faced with this unprecedented violence in parts of the country, warm words of support will be followed in the long run by a lack of support for officers over police use of force.”

He said officers were at risk of gross misconduct hearings in relation to the use of force after the Supreme Court last year dismissed an appeal by an officer known as W80.

The Police Federation of England and Wales said that the outcome of the case must result in amendments to legislation to enable better protection for officers.

Rich said: “Officers are facing unprecedented levels of violence and fear finding themselves under conduct and disciplinary investigation over the use of force.

“They are defending themselves in circumstances of extreme threat to them where action can never be weighed to a nicety, as the armchair commentariat would tell us.

“If the Prime Minister and Home Secretary are true to their word about backing officers when they use the powers they have under use of force legislation, then the W80 ruling should be overturned, and legislation bought forth to ensure officers can have the confidence they need to most effectively tackle violence.”