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News

George Celebrates 60 Years of Friendship David King , Surrey Branch Secretary. Surrey Branch held its 2019 Christmas lunch celebration at The Refectory, in Godalming. Some 21 members attended and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. However the star of the event was George Bishop BEM who has been a member of the IPA for 60 years, (10 years after our wonderful organisation started). George was an instructor for many years at Hendon Police College. George is still very active, but did say that he is not conversant with computers and prefers to use the post for notifications etc. I had the privilege and honour to present George with his 60 year IPA membership certificate at the lunch, and it was very interesting talking to George about his travels with the IPA over those 60 years membership.

Death of Dave Sismey (Derbyshire Branch) Neil Hallam , Editor Recently, I attended the funeral of Dave Sismey in

Derby. Dave began his career in the Army, before joining Derbyshire Police. His Police career included stints on Ascension Island, as well as International Policing missions in several of the world’s trouble spots. After retirement from Derbyshire, Dave came to Notts, as a civilian investigator, where I first met him as his DS. Outside the job, Dave led a very full life, enjoying some incredibly adventurous expeditions around the world. His experiences were a regular source of articles for Police World, which I will miss almost as much as his friendship. An aggressive cancer took Dave quite quickly. But it did allow him to plan his own funeral, which began with Lee Marvin singing “I was born under a wandering star,” a song that summed Dave up very well.

Police Dog Swoop given IPA Section UK Honorary Membership Police Dog Swoop has been given an honorary life membership in recognition of his work to showcase policing around the world. Police Dog Swoop was a mascot of a British Transport Police firearms officer (also an IPA member), initially for a bit of a laugh when out on patrol. It then turned into a bit of a social media sensation and a great way to break down barriers for our firearms officers interacting with members of the public. He is referred to as Police Dog Swoop (or PD Swoop), in the same vein as other ‘real’ police dogs. You can also find him on his Twitter or Instagram accounts (@Police_Swoop) where there are many pictures of him around the world.

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POLICE WORLD Vol 65 No.2, 2020