Police World Edition 1 2015

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Article
POLICE WORLD Vol 60 No. 1, 2015 5
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International Police Association
Section UK
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Activity, Activity
The first meeting of Regional
Chairs for many years, outside
of the National Council Meeting
(NCM), took place in Nottingham
on 2 November 2014; its
purpose – to allow Chairs
increased ownership over national
strategy and to acknowledge the
importance of their role as drivers of
activity throughout their own Region.
The main theme of the meeting was ‘Activity,
Activity and more Activity for 2015 and Beyond’
and Mick Luke, National President, who chaired
the meeting, stressed the importance of events
being organised at a national, regional and
branch level across the three strands of Social,
Cultural and Professional, as well as events with
an international flavour. All events need to be
publicised well in advance and reported on to
showcase activity to all. See ‘web events’ for a
full listing of all events organised or planned to
date:
Recruitment and Retention information was
provided and there was a review on recent
initiatives to boost membership figures,
such as the Free membership offer in 2014;
improvements to marketing materials;
broadening of the ‘IPA product’ for example
- International Learning and Development
Exchange Programme; prizes and travel
opportunities being offered to members;
new membership discounts; developing the
role of the branch Publicity Officer and the
potential merging of branches. These were
seen as progressive objectives which would be
continued to develop further.
The Chairs made and supported
several proposals on
the National Strategy
during the the day;
these included a
proposal to assign responsibility for the
organisation of the National Council Meeting to
the National Executive Committee (NEC) from
2017; that the NCM should be held in June
and motions should be submitted at least 56
days before hand (a caveat being where cost
was prohibitive for June the NCM would revert
to May).
Chairs supported the allocation of 1,950 free
membership places in 2015. The Chairs agreed
to a debate in their Regions as to whether a
graduated membership fee be offered (See
‘what do you think’) and agreed to present
ideas on how to refresh the recruitment/
retention strategy, particularly in relation to
focusing specific categories of membership
and/or particular market areas.
They supported further investment in the
development of the website and memberbase
in order to support the secretaries in their role.
The Chairs recognised the importance to
maintain Section UK’s profile as the IPA’s
founding Section and supported plans to
organise international events. They supported
proposals that needed to go before the World
Congress in 2015 in order to host future
international events such as the International
Youth Gathering in 2018, the International
Young Officers’ Seminar in 2019, and the World
Congress in 2025. A general discussion on
succession planning resulted in agreement
that members should be identified and
nurtured from the point of enrolment through
‘an IPA career’.
The Regional Secretaries held a meeting on the
same day. The general consensus of the day
was holding a meeting of both Secretaries and
Chairs helped mobilise commitment to change
because both groups now have an input to
the diagnosis of the current difficulties facing
the IPA, and share in the solutions. They were
revitalised and empowered to act on many
issues, such as dealing directly with inactive
branches, as is their right as Regional
Executive members.
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‘That longer serving members receive some
financial incentive to renew, eg reduce annual
subscription.’
?‘That we offer membership to
wider groups of people, egYeoman
Warders, Military police, PCC’s and
staff, Serious Crime Agency etc.’ ?