December 1999 Volume 80 Number 12 "serving the protectors"
By Andy Dunn

The Chairman’s Message

The Police Association has, in recent years, brought some of the world’s highest profile police union leaders to its annual conferences. This year, Police Federation of England and Wales chairman, Fred Broughton, took centre stage.

And from the leader of the world’s largest police union came neither militancy nor open scorn toward traditional police enemies. Broughton, in quite subdued tones, delivered a fundamental message of strength from police-community partnerships, as outlined in UK Police Suffer Same Political Agenda.

PASA president, Peter Alexander, was right in his assertion that police would be “missing the big picture” if they lost sight of that partnership. Its importance can’t be overstated.

Governments and police departments the world over have shown that, in these times of destructive economic rationalism, they are unwilling and/or ill-equipped to provide adequate police services and workplaces.

Hence, the victims of this current-day economic policy - police and the public - must, in their own interests, form those crucial partnerships. Their combined voice is one of society’s most powerful political lobbying tools.

Responsibility for the police part in these partnerships falls naturally to front-line officers. Consequently, they must move to a new perspective from which they see even those members of the public who frustrate them as potential partners in the fight for a dignified working life.

Journal In Mourning

So much has been written and spoken about the exemplary life of Police Association vice-president, David Neale, that little more can be conveyed through this column.

It was, however, an honour for the Police Journal to attend his funeral and later write his obituary for this issue.

His ceaseless interest in the magazine was always valued, and his comments on its development always considered. He was indeed a friend to his association’s official publication.

The Police Journal extends its condolences to Vice-President Neale’s family, friends and colleagues.

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