Protect Our Police wants to encourage YOU to visit YOUR MP. So today we have published a Police Officers experience of doing just that!
PC Bish 
visits his MP 
Grant Shapps
“Firstly, I really appreciate the opportunity provided by Protect Our Police to write this piece. My aim is to persuade officers to go and lobby their MP’s and ultimately help us get what we all want, fair pay and conditions and police reform that is fit for purpose and able to last the test of time.
Yesterday I went along and met my local MP to voice my concerns about the police cuts and the proposals contained within in the Windsor, Hutton and Neyroud reports.
To be honest it felt a long time coming. When our local federation first advised to meet your local MP in person over a month ago I made my appointment.
I joined the job at 19. That was 8 ½ years ago and have always worked in Hertfordshire. A relatively safe but sometimes very busy Home County to the immediate north of London. I wouldn’t count myself as particularly political, about as much as the next person really. I much prefer to keep up to date with the footy results than the latest goings on down at Westminster. But when the government announced the proposed cuts I felt I had to do something. In fact I felt compelled to do everything I could. Why? because these cuts won’t just affect me on a personal level – Did I mention my wife is also a police officer? That’s over £5,000 from our household income set to go before we even start talking about pensions. I owed it to my colleagues, some of who are in the final few years before retirement, but more importantly I owed it to every person living in this country, from our position we can appreciate the real affect these cuts will have on the whole of society. Politicians can tell us “The Frontline” won’t be affected but that is categorically UNTRUE!
I live in the Welwyn and Hatfield constituency. My MP is Grant Shapps. He’s a young Conservative in his second term as an MP and is also Minister for Housing and Local Government.
His surgeries are usually once a week and only for a few hours in the morning, held at a local community centre. I had emailed him twice in the lead up to our meeting once to ask for his support for the Early Day Motion for a Royal Commission into Policing, the other to enquire how he intended to vote on the Police Reform Bill that went through Parliament a few weeks ago. Disappointingly my replies took about a week to come through, and when they did they were by someone else on his behalf, typically towing the party line that the cuts and police reform were necessary. This vindicated my decision to meet him in person. It was not only right but essential to get my point across and not just stand for being fobbed off.
I arrived in good time, but found the people with the appointments before had actually yet to be seen. I was a little nervous, but felt confident. I had done my homework. I hadn’t read the three reports cover to cover, but had worked off reliable summaries namely those produced by The Police Federation as well as reading as much as I could find in the month prior to anything in the media. I had made notes on the points that I thought affected me most, as well as some things I had picked up on locally in my own force.
I was a bit worried about dress code. Shirt and tie? Something a little less formal? But i didn’t want to be disrespectful. As luck had it, I was called in for an operation at 3am, so I had come straight from work, in uniform. I hadn’t been waiting long when I was joined by a familiar face, a DI from work. She transferred to Herts about 4 years ago from West Mids. She was with her husband, a retired West Midlands officer. We had a quick chat and decided as we were both here for the same thing we would go in and speak with Grant together.
Things were very relaxed. Grant was dressed casually in shirt and jeans and had a young assistant with him. He was very welcoming, although the meeting took place in a large hall and we were opposite ends of a big table. His assistant made notes but he also recorded the meeting on his phone to ensure nothing was missed. Surprisingly and maybe somewhat disappointingly we were the first police officers to actually meet him. Although he acknowledged he had received a few emails.
He listened to our concerns on Windsor and Hutton. He did seem understanding, although he enjoyed playing devil’s advocate about retirement after 30′s years’ service. He focussed on officers that will retire during their late 40′s or early 50′s. One of which I will be under the current scheme. He suggested it could be seen as a luxury to retire so young. I tried to show that this was only the case for people that joined very early on in life. We also tried to demonstrate that policing is more than just a job, but a lifestyle and 30′s years is a long and exhausting commitment. He listened to the DI’s husband on the risks he had encountered during his service in West Midlands which included being shot at several times, having bones broken and temporarily blinded for a month. Frustratingly he thought Hertfordshire was a world away. I was quick to put him right.
I had identified some points from Windsor that I wanted to stress my opposition to for example the Expertise and Professional Accreditation Allowance being just as divisive as SPP’s. He stopped me short but was honest enough to admit he was not that familiar with the reports and not in a position to discuss the details within them. He did however assure me that if I email more in depth points, he would pass them on to Nick Herbert, disclosing he was located in the office next door to him in Westminster.
He did however concede that Windsor and Hutton reports don’t necessarily go together. We discussed officers in their late 50′s or 60′s would not want to nor be physically able to work on the frontline. Yet under Windsor officers not working on the frontline seem to suffer with less pay. However he seemed to think there was plenty of roles an officer could fulfil at that age away from the frontline. I urged that the scale of cuts was too much too soon. Suggesting a Royal Commission was what was needed. I tried to emphasise the need to make sure any changes were the right ones and would stand the test of time. To this he agreed.
Our meeting felt like it was beginning to end, I felt as if we had had our time. Grant began summing up. Much to my frustration as I still had plenty more I wanted to say. He mentioned again he was sympathetic to our pay cuts, but also added he too had had a 5% pay cut and 5 year pay (That’s not quite how the federation put it, I thought).
He said that local government had also received 20% budget cuts and that police reform was necessary.
He could obviously see I was itching to say something else, and in fairness to him, he gave me an opportunity to make one more point. One specific to Hertfordshire, a force I feel is probably one of the better prepared yet still look set to lose 550 staff, 275 of which will be sworn officers. Hi response was that he had spoken to our CC and that the affect to our services would be minimal.
With that it was time for handshakes and our meeting was over. He did remind us he knew Nick Herbert well and would take our concerns directly to him. He again reminded me of a more in depth email that he could pass on to Mr Herbert to look at in detail. Grant was a nice guy, he seemed genuinely sympathetic to our cause and appreciative of the hard work the police service do, but with this, he is also very aware of his party’s policies and the party line. I was grateful for his time. I returned home and set to work on that email. About 4 hours later I had finished. I am sure it will find its way to Mr Herbert; I’m just sceptical as to how much time he will give it.
Overall I think the meeting was definitely worthwhile. It’s all too easy to have letters and emails fobbed off but seeing them in person is different, they have to listen.
It was frustrating leaving with more to say, but I think that is more testament to the scale of the government’s cuts and reforms it seems intent on pushing through rather than Mr Shapps hospitality. I am pleased I have done as much as I can, I urge you to do the same to protect the future of the job we love.
Jon Bish”
Thanks Jon for your sharing your experience with us.
It is important to visit YOUR MP whether a Police Officer or a Member of the Public. They do not know everything just because it’s what their party want.
MP’s need to be educated on how 20% Cuts and the 3 recently published reports affect YOU!
