police world Edition 3 2013

Article

Secretary General Dave Taylor has sole responsibility for management of staff

Vice President Mick Luke - his draft strategy was circulated to Regions

Vice President Mark Kernohan Lead on the WPFG

Growing our Membership I now turn my attention to growing our

We also sponsored Alex Jones from 4 Region who recently attended the second International Young Officers Seminar in Australia. You will have no doubt seen the recent articles on the Web News detailing the professional exchange opportunity for two uniformed members to travel to Krakow in July. This is as a result of the annual professional exchange programme that we have recently confirmed with IPA Poland. I am sure this will prove both popular and a success. Once we are assured that the programme is a success we are determined to expand the programme to include other member Sections. In summary what I consider the positive advances of last year or so are: ■ Aligning NEC Business to Principal Objectives ■ Significant Cost Savings ■ Income Generation Opportunities ■ Growth in Special Interest Groups ■ Measure of Deregulation ■ Established a Formal Professional Exchange Programme ■ Opening up Membership to the Wider Police Family None of the above takes account of another success – re-establishing Section UK at the heart of IPA internationally. Within two years of UK setting up the Northern European Forum (NEF) which is an alliance of Northern European Sections, four of the five Northern European Forum candidates for International Office were elected at the World Congress last September. The result being that there is a whole new dynamic in the Permanent Executive Bureau, whose ambitions are now much more closely aligned to our own.

to the view that if we can find even one thing that can act as a hook we will be much better placed to recruit and retain many members. SIGs can provide a greater variety of organised activities and opportunities to participate. It is extremely pleasing to report that we currently have five SIGs and at least one more in the supporting SIGs in foundation. Mark provides both practical and financial support in the early stages, ensuring that appropriate structures and processes are in place and that the Group gets off to the best possible start. If you need more information on how to go about establishing a Special Interest Group simply contact Mark at: vpkernohan@ipa-uk.org I have previously mentioned that I believe that as a friendship organisation we tend to be over regulated. To my mind, some rules have had a negative impact on member activity and have at times been a cause of upset to otherwise loyal and hardworking grassroots members. I had specifically mentioned what I consider to be the unnecessarily restrictive publicity policy. Mark recently took over responsibility for the Communications Team and after reviewing policies Mark too concluded that elements of both the Charity and Publicity Directives placed unnecessary restrictions on members. Delegates to the most recent NCM unanimously agreed with Mark and voted to dispense with the Charity Directive and the restrictive elements of the Publicity Directive. Mark is also our lead on what is probably the most significant IPA International event for many years. IPA is a major sponsor of the World Police and Fire Games (WPFG) to be held at Belfast this August. It is expected that this event will attract around 9,000 police and fire officers and brand IPA will be very much to the fore. Mark chairs the working party overseeing IPA involvement at the event reporting direct to the Permanent Executive Bureau. You can read more about the WPFG on page 8. I am keen to ensure that opportunities to represent UK will also be given to our Region members. Last year we had three members travel to Poland for different events. In September Steve Bretherton represented UK at the Polish National Council Meeting, Cas Smith another member from 8 Region spoke at a fraud conference and Fife member Bruce Bennet undertook a professional exchange in November. offing. Two years ago we only had two. Mark Kernohan is the VP responsible for

membership. It is not sufficient to have the singular ambition of growth, we have to have a product that is sufficiently attractive to retain existing members as well as recruit new members. I suspect that the recent change to our membership rules will not produce immediate dividends in terms of recruitment. We will now have to actively market the IPA to Police Staff. However from my point of view recruitment was not the overriding imperative in pursuing the widening of our membership. For me it was more about equality and showing respect for our brothers and sisters in arms. Police Staff will be one consideration amongst many for VP Mick Luke. I tasked Mick with building a framework strategy that will cross cut the issues of recruitment and retention. Mick led on a Recruitment and Retention workshop at the Chairs’ meeting at Torquay. He also gave a presentation to the full conference as part of his consultation. He has distributed his draft strategy and a variety of proposed work streams. It is absolutely essential that our members and particularly the elected members who were at Torquay engage with this process if we are to achieve anything meaningful. It was pleasing to note that delegates from 9 Region responded to the challenge within days of the NCM and are providing Mick with promotional materials that will be further developed with the appointed publicity officers. We need every interested member to put time out to read and consider Mick’s draft strategy and provide feedback on the critical issues of recruitment and retention. It is not the case that we will be sitting on our hands awaiting the outcome of Mick’s consultation and future recommendations. In the meantime life for IPA goes on. I have already mentioned Publicity Officers. This is an initiative that came from the

Communications Team. There is already evidence of improved recruitment in the branches and regions that have active publicity officers. However while we have in excess of 50 branches there are currently only 19 Publicity Officers. Could your Branch benefit from the appointment of a Publicity Officer? Another initiative that has proved effective in recruiting is the Special Interest Groups (SIGs). I am inclined

Ian Tyers giving a presentation on the Triathlon Group (SIG)

Police World Vol 58 No.3 2013

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