PW_4_2020

Sports

Team Police: bringing back the idea of wellbeing through sport Andy Picken , Derbyshire Branch.

Police Sport has always played an important role to the service, both for the wellbeing of officers and its community reputation. I can remember when some forces only accepted recruits who were at least 6 foot 1 inches tall and could Box. Many international sports stars were supported during their policing careers, including England rugby internationals: Wade Dooley, Dean Richards and Martin Bayfield.

L ooking back into the history of the Police Athletics Association , it was clear that these sporting endeavours had government support and fitted well with the ethos of policing. The first organised police sporting event was held as early as the 21st of July 1884. The Police Athletic Club held its first athletic meeting on the 10th of March 1899, supported by Joseph Arndale, who at the time was Chief Constable of Bradford. After the Second World War, the Oaksey Report looked at police recruitment, and one of its main findings led to the foundation of Police Sports Clubs. This is a direct quote and will raise eyebrows today, for being very gender specific. “In our view, organised games and athletics are amenities which are good for the health and morale of policemen and which ought to do much to make the police attractive to men of the type that it is desired to recruit. We think that Police Authorities should be encouraged to meet out of the Police Fund the cost of providing sports grounds, pavilions and similar capital charges which would be beyond the men’s means but we do not think it would be right for police authorities to meet the whole cost of organised sport in police forces. The men should be prepared to do their part.” I first got involved in police sport back in 1977 as a cadet, and have been a member of the sports club continuously ever since. I can remember the times when sporting activity was encouraged and was even allowed in duty time. These practices are now discouraged, which has unsurprisingly led to less active participation from serving staff. Given the reduction of active support for Sports Clubs, I was interested to read about a new initiative designed to assist staff with their health and wellbeing. An analysis of the Oscar Kilo 2020 survey revealed that many officers still have immense job satisfaction, but over half suffer from symptoms of fatigue and stress as a result of workplace activity. As a method of mitigating these risks it was suggested that having access to organised sport would help the mental health and fitness of the staff concerned.Military staff get great support through www.teamarmy.org .

They link with sponsors to support the sporting interests of the military, raising around seven million pounds towards sports related enterprises. Mirroring Team Army’s methodology, Team Police has been formed as a collaboration between an entrepreneurial group called Ethos and Police sport UK (PSUK). Their joint aim is to raise funds and support police sport in general. Team Police offers an annual membership scheme in which companies become sponsors, in return for exclusive brand awareness opportunities. Mark Juke, Chief Constable of South Wales Police, supported the initiative by saying “Police Sports UK are on a mission to increase opportunities for the policing community to participate in sport as part of our well-being strategy. We are excited about working with Ethos and Team Police.” The team recognised a long-standing issue with police wellbeing, connected to long working hours, high levels of demand, constant public scrutiny, dangerous working environments and stress. It is suggested that increasing opportunities for police to participate in sport might help them put the demands and difficulties of work behind them, through engaging in a team based or sporting activity. Wellbeing through sport is what Team Police is trying to achieve, and they’ve brought together police industry experts to help. The team is made up of retired police officers, chief constables, deputy directors of the NCA, and others with first hand police experience. The team is in a position to really understand the current needs of our police colleagues, including the major need to focus on supporting and promoting wellbeing. Each sponsor has a dedicated account manager who helps tailor different companies’ sponsorship packages and identify their specific needs. This enables sponsors to maximise the benefits from their sponsorship, whilst maintaining high standards of transparency and integrity. There are some exceptional companies already linked into the scheme with more to follow. Check out the website for more details. www.teampolice.uk

POLICE WORLD Vol 65 No.4, 2020

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