JCC
Alan Jones, Inspectors Central Committee
Steve Smith, Constables Central Committee
Alan Jones, Inspectors Central Committee
I Joined South Yorkshire Police in March 1975, and spent almost 19 years in a variety of traffic roles - joining the Federation at a local level in 1994 as the Traffic Inspectors rep – not a popular choice back then! These were the days when my Chief Inspector was Bernard Hogan-Howe, my Superintendent, Norman Bettison, and causing great confusion was another Inspector Jones - Ken – the now ACPO president.
The Joint Central Committee (JCC) works on behalf of all police officers through a variety of forums from seminars, conferences and lobbying activity to consultation responses and research. The Federation seeks to develop good relationships with key stakeholders, creating opportunities to influence, providing consultation on pertinent issues, learning and sharing good practice and gaining understanding and a wider appreciation of the social, political and economic landscape that affects and impacts upon policing.
Aside from the work I do for the Inspectors Committee, the central cut and thrust of work I do is on roads policing matters and fighting to ensure roads policing officers get a voice.
Anything from wheels to traffic legislation comes under my jurisdiction. I represent traffic officers on numerous ACPO groups, and was instrumental in setting up the Federation Roads Policing User Group, where regional traffic representatives meet four times a year. In the summer this meeting takes place at the House of Commons where we invite Members of Parliament from all parties to get involved and discuss the issues that matter.
In November we host a Roads Policing Conference – last year co-hosted with ACPO which brings together a host of stakeholders from MPs to associated policing bodies and road safety charities to discuss pertinent issues and share good practice. After this conference we launched a traffic newsletter, ‘Roads Ahead’, to improve communication across the Country.
All that we achieve is only possible because of the great support from traffic reps and traffic officers. Two of our main priorities presently are;
• To ensure there are national standards for traffic officers vocational needs
• National standards for police vehicle specification
I’m also Chairman of the Professional Development subcommittee. We have a great team and have really moved things forward in the last two years. Our most recent achievement is to establish a professional development lead on all Joint Branch Board’s – a great example of the success that can be achieved by the national and local Federations working together.
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Steve Smith, Constables Central Committee
My Federation career has been a catalogue of being in the right place at the right time. Back before I joined the Federation I was what you would call a duty winger - always twisting about the way officers were being treated by managers over issues such as overtime and allowances and a constant user of the phrase ‘what have the Federation ever done for me?’
At a time of great force change and in retrospect I put it down to coincidence, my station was left without a Fed Rep - and thus began my Federation career! And, so through a series of elections and internal promotions through the next 9 years I made my way onto the Joint Central Committee - learning my trade along the way through a number of courses in discipline and health & safety – and by being a constant pain in the backside of my local area commanders and managers!
Until June 2007 I maintained a dual role of Joint Branch Board Chair and Regional Rep on the JCC. I did this as I was keen to have the continued day to day dealings with members ensuring I was always abreast of the pertinent issues.
What kind of work do I do as Regional Rep on the JCC?
First and foremost you are a representative of your region on a national platform – representing your colleagues who ultimately elect and deselect you. It is important to bear in mind when planning diaries, the numerous regional meetings that will be held over the course of the year (my region has 7 Constables Branch Boards, that hold approx 30 meetings each year, plus 5 regional Constables meetings). These meetings are key to accurate representation and ensuring you know all the issues your region face or want tackled.
Another key responsibility on the JCC is work for the sub-committee. I was fortunate given my background that I was given the Discipline committee, a subject I was familiar with and really enjoy. Again the timing was right as the ‘Reform of Disciplinary Arrangements’ work commenced in Oct 2005 (and is still continuing today) and I’m also hopeful that this year the new conduct and performance regulations will come into being.
I have found working on discipline and with the 43 plus Discipline Liaison Officer’s really rewarding (and often pressurised - being the one individual representing 140,000 officers!). But particularly challenging is the legal representation where we seek to get a reasonable outcome for our members. I’ve also spoken at the ACPO Professional Standards Conference and spoken in Budapest on ‘Misconduct issues and our relationship with the IPCC’.
I am now Deputy General Secretary of the Constables Central Committee which brings additional duties, such as overseeing civil claims, employment tribunal’s, staff issues and specific CCC issues.
For me, there is never a dull moment working on the JCC (though a lot of stressful ones!). It’s fair to say its one mad run but it is incredibly rewarding especially when you do help secure better conditions for the membership, and an overall better police service for the public.
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