Formed 1952 | Employees 8 | |
Legal personality Non government: Professional association General nature Law enforcement
Civilian agency Headquarters 67A Reading Road, Pangbourne, Berkshire, RG8 7JD | ||
The Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales is the sole representative body for police officers in the ranks of Superintendent and Chief Superintendent in England and Wales. Its members are the senior operational leaders in policing. The Association’s Headquarters are in Pangbourne, Berkshire.
Contents
National Officers
The Association has three full-time National Officers. Its President is Chief Superintendent Gavin Thomas; its Vice President is Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths (elected 2016). Chief Superintendent Tim Jackson is the National Secretary (appointed 2014). Under Association rules, the President holds office for up to three years.
History
The 1919 Police Act created a Police Federation of England and Wales to represent officers below the rank of Superintendent, but no formal provision was made for Superintendents... In 1920 the Home Office called a conference of superintendents, one from each force, or two from those with more than twelve superintendents, to decide how they should be represented on the Police Council. The delegates decided to elect one county and one city or borough superintendent to the Police Council and a committee of eight was formed to communicate with the Home Secretary. This was the beginning of the present Superintendents’ Association.
The Police Council met for the first time on 6 July 1920 and formulated Police Regulations to provide national conditions of service, discipline and allowances for officers. The following year, the Home Secretary approved the establishment of four permanent District conferences for superintendents, with each force sending one representative, or two from larger forces. They were permitted to convene twice every year, at public expense.
In 1952, a committee chaired by Lord Oaksey published a report that contained recommendations on police pay and conditions of service. This led to the formation of the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales and also included the Metropolitan Police Service in London and the City of London Police, both of which had been outside the previous arrangements
The Association is the sole representative body for superintendents and chief superintendents and has represented its members through a series of reforms including most notably the Willink Commission (1960), the Edmund-Davies Inquiry (1977), the Sheehy Inquiry (1992), the Winsor Review (2010) and the Hutton pension reforms (2010).
As the Association grew in strength and influence over the years, the Home Office agreed to fund a Chief Superintendent to be seconded from a force as the full time Secretary of the Association. Additional funding was granted in 1983, 1995 and 2004 respectively for the posts of National President, National Deputy Secretary and Vice President. In 2014 the post of Deputy National Secretary was removed and replaced by an employed police staff member as Assistant Secretary.
Membership
Serving police officers who are Superintendents or Chief Superintendents in one of the 43 Home Office England and Wales police forces, the British Transport Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary or Isle of Man Constabulary can join the Association. Since 2014, this has included the new Direct Entry Superintendents recruited directly into the rank from outside the police service. The Association has around 1215 members. Eligible officers are not automatically enrolled and must opt-in to join, paying an annual subscription.
Structure
There are currently 46 Branches of the Association, one for each of the 46 eligible forces. The Branches are grouped together into five Districts, A, B, C, D and E. These represent largely geographic areas but are configured to ensure a mixture of large metropolitan forces and smaller forces within each District. Branch officials, elected by their peers, are the voting members who attend District meetings. The number of delegates who attend from each Branch is in proportion to the number of members within the Branch. District meetings are held three times a year, hosted by different Branches in turn on a rota basis. National Officers attend each District meeting.
The President chairs the Association’s National Executive Committee, which is its policy-making forum. The NEC includes the Vice President and two representatives from each District. There are also representatives for women members, black and minority ethnic (BME) members and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) members. These ‘reserved places’ are elected and are there to ensure that the NEC represents and champions the diverse interests of Superintendents. The NEC meets five times per year and the Association holds an annual AGM, usually in spring. It also holds a national conference every September
Presidents
Presidents were elected in March each year prior to 1993. After 1993 Presidents were elected in March every three years.
Crest
In 2002 the Association’s 50th anniversary was marked with a new heraldic coat of arms. This was presented on behalf of Her Majesty at the Association’s National Conference by the Lord Lieutenant for Cheshire Mr William Bromley Davenport.