police world Edition 3 2013

A Word from the President

NCM Diary The National Council Meeting 2013 w s held at the Palace Hotel, Torquay - hosted by 7 Region - over the weekend of 10 - 11 May. Secretary General Dave Taylor summarises the main events that took place.

times during the course of Andy’s mother’s final illness when Andy still put the interests of other members before his own very personal circumstances. Finally Tom referred to two separate incidents over a three year period that might have been damaging to the reputation of IPA that Andy was instrumental in managing and resolving on our behalf. One incident might literally have been a life and death situation but for Andy’s intervention and involved the son of a foreign member who had suffered a breakdown while studying in the UK. Yvonne is an Arthur Troop Scholarship winner. detection in the United States. Thanks to the IPA scholarship she is now one of the most highly qualified officers in this field in the UK. For that reason Yvonne has been the subject of more than 40 newspaper, radio and TV interviews as well as giving numerous professional police presentations at home and abroad. Yvonne never fails to acknowledge the part that IPA played in her gaining her qualification and a stipulation of every interview is that the IPA receives prominent coverage. Tenure of Office for NEC Pete Connolly proposed removing the rule of tenure for all NEC posts with the exception of President. Tom Crozier spoke in favour of the motion saying that he believed it was good for the well being of the Association. Bill Lloyd from 3 Region offered an amendment that tenure should be removed from all NEC posts. Past President David Read spoke in favour, urging Council to support the amendment. The crux of Mr Read’s argument was that Council should be the arbiters of who is elected and when, and if Council believed someone was in office too long or not fulfilling their obligations to members the remedy was in the hands of Council members. The amendment was carried by a large Her scholarship involved undertaking an intensive 3 week course in drug driving

Evening: There was an informal dining night attended by the invited guests Past President David Read and his wife Sue, President of Section Ireland Denis Dunne and his wife Noirin and President of Section Netherlands, Johanna Schotanus. Also present as guest of the organising committee was recently promoted Chief Superintendent Jim Nye. So recent was his promotion that he was taking up his new posting the next day. Jim spoke very warmly of his connections to IPA and in particular to friends in the IPA Triathlon Group. He invited 7 Region Chair Ian Tomlinson to meet with him to discuss promoting IPA within his force area. Tom Crozier presented both David and Jim with copies of the limited edition Jedd IPA prints. He then made Presidential Awards to Andy Gregory, Chair of 5 Region and Yvonne Taylor from 3 Region. Presidential Awards are in the personal gift of the President for what he considers meritorious actions that exemplify our motto of Service through Friendship. Tom described how Andy had selflessly promoted IPA and IPA members over a number of years. He recalled instances in very recent occasion there was only one speaker against the motion and the proposal was carried by 36 votes to three. As a footnote to this debate, just as the meeting was about to close Sav Kyriakou, Chair of 9 Region announced that his Region had signed up the first new member who now qualified under the changed rule! Charity Directive On behalf of the NEC Mark Kernohan proposed dispensing with the Charity Directive that is now regarded as being too restrictive and potentially discourages members from organising events or at times places organisers of otherwise appropriate charitable events in conflict with the current rules. Mark’s rationale was accepted by all present and the vote in favour was unanimous.

Friday - Late Morning: Arrive at conference venue, the Palace Hotel at Torquay for two days. Afternoon: While the formal business meeting takes place on the Saturday, the first day could also be considered a full working day for delegates with the traditional separate meetings of Chairs, Treasurers and Secretaries taking up most of the afternoon. There were a number of other fruitful meetings which took place on Friday including a meeting of all the London Regions which was also attended by the President, Tom Crozier, and myself. The sole purpose of the meeting was to address the role of the London Reception Officer that had been vacant since Steve Connor stood down after five years in the role. Bob McCormack, Secretary of 6 Region spoke with some authority having been involved with the role previously. After an informed discussion the group were advised that there were two intimations of interest in taking on the role. Given Bob’s knowledge of the role he was the favoured choice. As you may have seen on the Web News Bob has already visited staff at BSAC to confirm arrangements for handling overseas enquiries. Saturday - NCM Meeting: Tom opened the meeting by introducing the invited guests and also welcomed Immediate Past President Steve Connor and Assistant International Secretary General Stephen Crockard who, by the privilege of their positions, are members of Council in their own right. He also gave a special mention to another Past President John Owen Evans who was attending the meeting as an observer. Proposals - Membership Readers will know that the debate on extending the membership has been a hot topic for many years. After many years of seemingly implacable opposition Council agreed the principle at NCM in 2010. membership to all Police Staff employed by a Chief Officer of Police. The motion was structured so as to accommodate future changes to the governance of police forces and is flexible enough to accommodate differences in current force arrangements, e.g. Police Staff in London are currently employed by the office of the Mayor of London. Tom, who led the debate in 2010, again spoke on the proposal on behalf of the NEC. On this However the extensions approved at that time were limited to three specific roles undertaken by Police Staff. The motion this year was to open up

majority, with the effect that NEC members are no longer limited to a maximum of two terms in office.

Presentations The day was interspersed with a number of presentations that provided some relief from the business. Ian Tyres from the Triathlon Group gave an enthusiastic talk on the rigours of his particular sport, while Johanna Schotanus’s presentation on the success of Netherlands Web Shop was a revelation when compared to our own turnover and variety of

Elections Council gave its unanimous backing to both Mark Kernohan and Ronnie Dukes who were both re-elected to the NEC unopposed.

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Police World Vol 55 No.2 2010

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