Ian Pointon - Branch Secretary

In 1984 I joined Kent Police (Kent County Constabulary as it was then) as a police officer. I served in a variety of roles during my service mainly in West Kent. I was a subscribing member of the Police Federation but when I needed them I felt as if they could have done much better. So, when the Force restructured in 1992, I stood for and was elected as the Federation representative for the Tunbridge Wells area. I wanted to influence change and knew that I could only do that from the inside. I also wanted to represent those officers who couldn’t speak up for themselves in our hierarchical, disciplined structure. In January 1993 I was elected as the Secretary of the Constables’ Branch Board of Kent Police Federation, giving me a position on the Executive Committee. In 2002 I was elected as Chairman of Kent Police Federation, a role I fulfilled until 2017 when I retired. As Chairman I strove to give a voice to the membership both internally and externally; this became particularly important over the changes to the culture within Kent Police, the removal of numeric targets and the impact of the swingeing government budget cuts. During my time as a representative I was trained in a number of fields of representative work, most notably the misconduct arena for which I became the lead officer.

Following my retirement I became the Operational Complaints Manager for West Kent, but quickly realised what I was missing – representing people. Consequently I joined UNISON, became a steward and am now the Branch Secretary. Policing is a team effort with police staff occupying frontline policing roles like never before. This needs to be properly recognised internally, and importantly externally by the public. In addition, that recognition needs to extend to those police staff whose roles ensure the frontline of policing in its widest sense is both effective and efficient. Whilst I am not a huge fan of the terms front and back office, you cannot not have an effective and efficient front office without an equally effective and efficient back office. I also want to ensure that when things go wrong, as they invariably will from time to time, police staff members have the best representation possible and are not left to fend for themselves or rely on the best endeavours of a well-meaning colleague. Whether it’s a simple misconduct or a full-blown IOPC investigation, members deserve the best.

Thank you for letting me be your Branch Secretary. I regard it is a huge honour and a privilege.