Essex Officers Help Out In Climate Change Protests

“IT IS only right that as the next door neighbour, we’re the first to offer help.”

That is the view of Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor after Essex officers travelled to London to help out their Metropolitan Police colleagues during the protests by environmental campaigners Extinction Rebellion.

Further officers were also due to deploy in the capital but that request was cancelled, meaning a late change in officers’ plans, Essex Police Federation said.

Steve said: “When London was faced with what it was faced with they’re going to need some help, and it’s only right that as the next door neighbour, we’re the first to offer help. And we’ll continue to do should it happen again.

“The fact that it happened over the Bank Holiday weekend had a noticeable impact on officers and the force tried to do what it could to limit that.

“If you think you’re working for 12 hours on a Bank Holiday and then a couple of days beforehand you get told, ‘actually we don’t need you’, have you got enough time to rearrange your family’s Bank Holiday plans which have been changed for you to come to work? It often goes unnoticed.

“The force was aware. They spoke to us, and we tried what we could to do the very best for those officers in that position, to minimise that disruption as much as we could. But it goes on, and unfortunately it’s a hazard that we face in terms of our social lives and our family lives.”