New PFEW vice-chair calls for unity

Police officers and the Government must come to an agreement in order to help the service progress, according to the new vice-chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW).

Steve White, a firearms officer who had been a PFEW representative for Avon and Somerset for over a decade, was elected on November 28 at an extraordinary general meeting of the PFEW’s Joint Central Committee. He will leave his role as chair of the Inspectors’ Central Committee to join chair-elect Steve Williams in a new-look top pairing.

Ahead of starting his new role on January 1, he spoke of the challenges that face policing, including the looming budget cuts and the PFEW’s ballot of its members over potentially gaining industrial rights, all happening as police and crime commissioners (PCC) get to grips with their new roles and the scrapping of the Police Negotiating Board (PNB).

“You could almost describe it as being a perfect storm, but I’ve never been one to shy away from a challenge,” he said.

On the ballot of PFEW members which could see officers seeking industrial rights, he said: “The reason that we’re in this position is because police officers around the country are feeling bruised, damaged and a bit unloved, frankly.

“We’ve got to this stage, and essentially it’s a failure, but they’re feeling so frustrated and we need to allow them to have their say.”

With widespread anger over pay and pension changes reflected in petitions and Parliamentary debates, the difficulty in building bridges is clear. While Mr White criticised the nature of the austerity measures being imposed on forces nationwide, he argued the Government is still working towards what it thinks is in the best interests of the country.

“I think at the end of the day both the Government and the police service want to do the best thing for the public,” he said.

“We recognise the economic situation the country is in, and everyone has to take their fair share of the burden, but it isn’t being equally distributed, and in police we feel the cuts are too fast and too deep.”

In a closely-fought election, Mr White edged out Steve Evans and Rick Nelson to secure the vice-chair role. Paying tribute to his rival candidates, he explained what he felt made him stand out.

“Essentially my pitch was that I’ve got very extensive operational experience,” he said.

“And, while I’ve been a federation rep for 10 years, one of my passions has been communications and getting my message across, which is a key part of the job.”

As well as acknowledging the “tremendous” work of outgoing vice-chair, Simon Reed, Mr White outlined how he hoped the wide range of opinions across the ranks could be united for the benefit of policing as a whole.

He said: “We need to communicate well across the ranks, not only for the benefit of our members, but for the good of the public.”