Federation secretary to meet with MPs at Labour Party Conference

19 September 2024

West Midlands Police Federation secretary Tim Rogers says the swift sentencing of offenders who assaulted officers during the riots should be the benchmark for offenders who attack the police.

Tim said there was a contrast between the way offenders who assaulted officers during the serious disorder were dealt with compared to how they are routinely dealt with.

He said that the ‘supportive words’ from politicians following the riots needed to be translated into action, with swift justice and the handing down of prison sentences for such attacks becoming the norm.

Tim said: “Officers are attacked across the country in large numbers every day, and this appears to be accepted by the Government and the judiciary in that the overwhelming majority of those who assault the police are not sent to prison.

Assaulted officers

“We saw during the riots that the sentencing of offenders who assaulted officers was done in quick time and they received custodial sentences.

“This is something we never normally see. It’s most welcome and needs to be the way such offences are routinely dealt with from now on.

“They have shown that the system and the courts can swiftly deal with these assaults and this is what we expect their supportive words to translate into for future offences against officers.

“Attacks on our members must never be accepted, and those who do assault them must face the full force of the law.”

Tim was speaking ahead of the upcoming conference season, which he says is a chance to engage with political leaders and set out the Federation’s priorities.

Tim will be part of a Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) delegation at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, which runs from Sunday 22 to Wednesday 25 September.

Tim will represent PFEW at a two-hour engagement meeting on the Monday lunchtime with invited MPs.

The conference comes in the same month that West Midlands Police Federation was forced to cancel a drop-in at its Birmingham office for all of the region’s 24 MPs after only five replied to an invitation to attend.

It’s part of a drive to brief MPs following the election in July and to give them an accurate picture of the state of policing.

“The Federation is the voice of rank and file policing,” Tim said. “We want politicians to engage with us, to listen to the views of frontline officers, and find out about the issues that are affecting them and how policing can be improved.”

W80 firearms officer

On the agenda will be the Federation’s work around the case of the W80 firearms officer.

Tim has previously called for the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, to show she truly supports police officers by legislating to overturn the ruling in the case (see bottom of the page for details of the case).

Tim said: “We will be highlighting the ruling to MPs and the impact it is having on, not just firearms officers, but police drivers, and those officers who are trained to use reasonable force in order to keep the public safe.

“Our members have to make critical, life-saving decisions, in a split-second, but then find themselves facing conduct or criminal proceedings based on subjective forensic analysis.

“It’s undoubtedly going to make officers nervous, hesitant, and even reticent to make critical decisions or to use force, and that could have disastrous consequences.

“If the Home Secretary is true to her word about backing officers when they use the powers they have under use of force legislation, then the W80 ruling should be overturned.

“We will be discussing this with MPs and asking for their support in overturning it.”

Pay review mechanism

Other issues set to be raised are police pay, the pay review mechanism, and the need for long-term investment in policing.

Tim said: “We will also be highlighting the lack of an independent mechanism for determining police pay because the existing Police Remuneration Review Body is far from independent.

“As a Federation we’re launching a campaign for a new fairer mechanism for determining officer pay awards, a mechanism that includes collective bargaining and access to binding arbitration in recognition of the restrictions police officers face such as not being able to join a trade union or go on strike.

“This is about making sure that the process for setting police pay is fair, independent, and we will be involved in negotiations as equals.

“We want to highlight this with MPs in the hope they will see the system is unfair and will help us do something meaningful about it.”