“We came here to get a good telling off like school children”
IT IS disappointing that Home Secretary Theresa May chose to focus on the past rather than the future of policing in her keynote speech to the Police Federation conference, said Rachel Baines.
The Lancashire Police Federation chairman said she was “really disappointed in the Home Secretary”.
She added: “We thought Steve White gave a really good opening speech.”
Rachel added: “It was very disappointing that the Home Secretary didn’t address any of the really important points that he raised within his key note speech.
“There was a lot of focus on the past as opposed to the future of policing, and I think I would have liked to have seen more around the future as opposed to historic, particularly around the domestic violence, I think we’ve come leaps and bounds in that area.
“I’m not saying we always get it right, but I think there are other issues that she could have focused on.”
Do you think she was fair?
“No, I don’t. I think as usual we came here to get a good telling off like school children, and that’s how it’s felt for the last few years. Certainly the mood of social media from colleagues back in force that it just felt like she’d come and delivered a public telling off to us once again without recognising the great work that police officers do everyday.”
Would you have liked her to have spoken more about things like Taser and assaults on police officers?
“Absolutely. If she could have addressed the Taser issue as opposed to sort of saying, ‘It’s nothing to do with me’, that would have been helpful.
“And I think also it’s unacceptable that we’ve waited over two years for Specials to be included within the Federation and still there’s no sign of that legislation and no promises that it’s happening any time soon.”
On police pay – and the prospect of a 2.8% pay rise, Rachel added: “I think police officers have really been affected with pay freezes and that is in real terms a reduction in wages. We’ve had one per cent last year, one percent the year before, and before that a freeze, and police officer wages are falling behind, I think, with the private sector in particular.
“It’s a very dangerous job, there’s less of us, everyone’s working a lot harder, and officers deserve a boost in terms of a pay rise.”
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