What we've been up to
Our response and support for officers and staff in the wake of recent events and disorder
It’s critical during a major incident, such as the tragic events in Southport and the disorder which followed across the country, that as the National Police Wellbeing Service we do everything we can to help bring the whole system together, to provide the help and support that our officers and staff deserve whenever and wherever they need it.
Over the last few weeks we have worked tirelessly with forces and our groups across the country, here's a rundown on how we've supported you.
Occupational Health (OH)
The NPWS OH team offered support and guidance to OH teams, we made prompt contact with our OH managers through our practitioners network, bringing them to a multidisciplinary meeting to check in on capacity and workload, enabling them to support each other as well as their respective forces. Through the managers group we ensured that the most contemporary information was available to maintain timely and high-quality support for our brave officers and staff.
Op Hampshire
We also contacted all force leads for Operation Hampshire, the national response to police assaults, to encourage them to share knowledge so we could understand how best we could support staff and remind them of the guidance available for officers and supervisors. We also encouraged the reporting of all assaults and injuries as both crimes and for health and safety purposes in order to aid the centrally collated data. Read more on Operation Hampshire by clicking here.
Wellbeing vans
Our Oscar Kilo One emergency response vehicle was deployed directly to the scene following the tragic incident in Southport, the van was delivered with hot water and refreshments along with bottles of water to be used straight away. The van was well received by the officers and staff giving them a safe space away from the public and the media whilst working in very difficult circumstances.
A further van, Oscar Kilo 2, was also used by Merseyside to provide psychological support therapist drop-in sessions following the critical incident in Southport and associated disorder. The van was described as 'Excellent, bespoke support at a critical time....'
Other forces including GMP and South Yorkshire also took advantage of the wellbeing vans to support their officers during the disorder. Find out more about our vans and how to book for your force by clicking here.
OK9 Dogs
Our OK9 dogs, and their handlers who are peer support trained, attended various police, fire and rescue and ambulance stations across Merseyside. We were joined by colleagues with OK9 dogs from some Fire and Rescue and Ambulance services
We met with individuals who were first on the scene at Southport and we spoke to officers who where involved in the disorder, some who had been assaulted. They talked through what they had witnessed, the injuries they and their colleagues had sustained and how it made them feel. They stroked the dogs whilst we listened as they talked through and tried to process their thoughts. Our handlers signposted them for further support if necessary.
This was the first time that OK9 handlers from across three different emergency services had worked together in such a way. This response was made possible by the shared commitment and compassion of colleagues from across all three blue light services working together as a team.
Extra funding to support officers and staff in the wake of recent events and disorder.
Additional funding totalling £100,000 has been provided as a package of extra support being provided to officers and staff across the UK.
The recent events and incidents of disorder have been exceptional in both scale and severity, and we recognise the immediate pressure and longer-term implications this will have.
In response to this, the Chief Executives of the Police Treatment Centres at Harrogate and Auchterarder, the North West Benevolent Fund in Lancashire and Flint House Police Rehabilitation in Oxfordshire, came together with Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service to see what they can do to support policing through these challenging times.
Our shared goal is to ensure every officer or staff member injured either physically, psychologically (or both) can access timely, high-quality support now and into the future – being aware that sometimes the impact of events like these may take years to surface.
The Blue Light Card Foundation and The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales have contributed to this fund which will be split evenly across the three Police Treatment Centres.
This will help them to increase their capacity as we anticipate more officers and staff being referred to them as a result of the events.
Service Director of Oscar Kilo, the College of Policing’s National Police Wellbeing Service, Andy Rhodes said, ‘We are delighted that additional funding has been offered to support individuals and forces at this time. Occupational Health Units are working tirelessly to cope with a huge surge in demand and every penny of the additional funding will be spent on officers and staff to ensure nobody faces unnecessary delays getting the support and treatment they need. Police officers and staff place themselves in harm’s way and rightly expect that when they are injured the country they proudly serve will be there to help them.”
Steve Denny, Chair of Trustees, Blue Light Card Foundation said, “We have seen the unprecedented police response as unrest spread across the country. Here at the Blue Light Card Foundation, we recognise those police officers and staff injured in the line of duty need our support more than ever. We are delighted to be able to work with Oscar Kilo and the Police Treatment Centres to provide funding to pay for additional treatment for those on the frontline psychologically and physically impacted by recent events.”
NPCC internal community impact survey
Whatever your role has been, officer, staff member or volunteer, the personal and professional commitment, and sacrifices made right across policing to protect and reassure all our communities has been unwavering and very much appreciated.
The NPCC has created a short survey to help better understand the impact that has been felt across the service and they'd love to hear from you.
You will be able to find the link to this survey on your force intranet - it's open till 11 September.
Red Robber Raid e-book
We have made our Red Robber Raid book available as an e-book so more of you can access the story that helps police officers and staff to talk to their children about the job.
‘The Red Robber Raid’ story provides an intimate look into the sacrifices made by those who serve and protect our communities. The e-book is designed to engage young minds while educating them about the realities of policing life in a manner that is gentle and relatable.
Hard copies of the book have already been distributed to more than 1,700 policing families.
One parent said: "It’s not always easy to explain why I can’t be there for bedtime. This book does a wonderful job of opening up those tough conversations in a way that my child can understand."
You can find more of our families resources here
OK9 colouring and activity sheets
We are delighted to make available a full suite of activities for children, developed by OK9 handler and wellbeing practitioner, PC Cathy Veale from Devon, Cornwall and Dorset Police Alliance.
Cathy has created a bespoke range of colouring sheets and activities based on her own OK9 dog Darcy and some of the other dogs from Devon Cornwall and Dorset Police Alliance, which are now available to download and print from the Oscar Kilo website.
The activity sheets will help highlight the work of our OK9 dogs and raise awareness amongst officers and staff of the other resources available to them via Oscar Kilo.
Being designed for children, these resources tie in with the wider work we are doing around police families, and we are encouraging family members of officers and staff to access other family specific resources on our families hub.
SleepiEST update
SleepiEst is an ongoing three-year research project funded by the Road Safety Trust. We are working alongside Nottingham Trent University to assist with this study, that aims to reduce road crashes caused by sleepiness.
Data collection for the first phase of the SleepiEst study concluded in January 2024. Thank you to all those who participated – we had almost 6000 responses!
The project has now entered the second phase, which involves participants in a number of forces completing brief online questions and relevant tasks each day for a two-week period.
The end goal is to develop an online shift scheduling tool, that can reduce how often employees are expected to work and drive when sleepy, and ultimately reduce the numbers of sleepy drivers and sleep-related collisions on our roads.
Read about the project and the initial findings on our SleepiEST page
Police resettlement expo
We attended this event in Manchester with the aim of promoting our leavers hub to those exiting the service, to network with potential police employers and to promote the wider range of services offered by the National Police Wellbeing Service.
Conversations took place and advice was given to with both those who had left and were looking to leave policing in the immediate future.
Special thanks from Bedfordshire Police
We have received this special note of thanks from Bedfordshire Police who borrowed on of our vans last month:
"We'd like to say a big thank you to Oscar Kilo for the use of one of your wellbeing vans. The van was deployed to the river festival, where the health and wellbeing team had 331 visits, from officers, staff, their families and several members of public who were having various medical issues.
"The van was then used to celebrate the Women’s network event at our HQ, where we engaged with a further 86 visitors.
"Finally before returning the van we took it to Luton police station, which went down really well. Officers and staff were able to grab refreshments and chat to the wellbeing team about any issues or concerns they may have."
To find out more about our wellbeing vans including how to book one for your force check out our wellbeing vans page.
What's coming soon
'Identity' our new film is on it's way
We're excited to let you know we will be launching the third film in our series of short but powerful films that are based on the real-life experiences of working police officers in the next few months.
Introducing, ‘Identity’
Following on from the initial film ‘Purpose’ about new-recruit Alfie, and the second film ‘Meaning’, which followed Jake who was mid-service, this film, called 'Identity' focuses on Roopa, a police officer nearing the end of her career.
She’s heading towards retirement in her role as a Family Liaison Officer and is navigating what this big change will mean for her as she prepares to leave ‘the job’.
It picks up on the emotional journey that Roopa is going through as she navigates what retirement means for her, what she’ll do next, considering her ‘identity’ as an officer and reflecting on the impact she has had on people throughout her career.
Whilst some people look forward to their retirement and are well prepared, we know that not everybody is in the same position. For many people, this can be a very difficult transition.
Having successfully released two films like this already, we know how helpful they can in be in highlighting some of the challenges officers and staff face.
The key thing here is that these films encourage people to think about themselves, their colleagues, and their families, with signposting to places for support or guidance should they need it.
They give us a different way of being able to reach officers and staff who may just need that extra encouragement to seek out further support if they need it.
Along with lots of support already available in forces, we at Oscar Kilo are developing additional resources that officers and staff can access themselves directly through our website such as our leaver’s guides, families hub, and self-help resources.
Families toolkit
We are currently developing a families toolkit. The toolkit has been designed for forces, by forces, with the aim of ensuring that police families are heard, valued, informed and know where to seek wellbeing support for their loved ones if they need it.
It is intended to help bolster the support that forces currently have available to strengthen connections with police families and acknowledge the vital role they play, whilst often managing their own busy careers and commitments.
More details on this toolkit will follow in our next bulletin, meanwhile you can visit our families hub to see what we are doing already.
Events
Over the next few months we will be at the following events, if you are attending, please come and say hello.
- Police Superintendents Conference - 9-11 September
- Emergency Services Show - 18-19 September, Birmingham NEC
Oscar Kilo conference and awards ceremony
Our 2024 Oscar Kilo Conference and awards ceremony has been planned for 2-4 December at Crewe Hall Hotel and Spa, Crewe, Cheshire.
This year we will be combining the conference with announcement of our Oscar Kilo awards at a gala dinner which will be held in the evening of the second day on the 3 December 2024.
Invitations have gone out to all our member groups to register for the conference. If you have not received an invite and think you should be on the list please get in touch.
Wellfest
Following on from the success of previous events, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary will be holding another Wellfest festival which will take place on the week of 7 October 2024. We will be sharing details on the content and how to register in the coming months.
If you are interested in catching up on the recordings from the last festival check out the link below.