New Chairman outlines plans for Essex Police Federation

ESSEX Police Federation is to continue to challenge the force over the introduction of spit hoods for officers to use – and will push for Tasers to be more widely available, its new Chairman has said.

Steve Taylor is in the process of taking the helm from Mark Smith who retires at the end of this month.

The Boreham-based Sgt has outlined his plans for the role.

He said: “I want to see spit hoods rolled out. I think it’s a valuable piece of PPE and it should be on the belt of every officer and in every custody suite.

“And I want to see Mark’s work on Taser continued. Mark’s put a lot of work in and the wheels are turning to first of all get more officers trained in Taser, and then once we have more officers trained we’ll see its deployment increase, and once we see its deployment increase I’d like to see the number of Tasers increase.”

Steve also said he would prioritise the national pledge to cut down incidents of officer assaults. As part of this project, Essex officers will be expected to submit a victim personal statement for every attack while chiefs will work with the criminal justice system to ensure deterrent sentences are handed down, among other measures.

Steve said: “I’m looking forward to building strong relationships with Chief Constable Stephen Kavanagh, and with Matthew Horne the Deputy, and being the critical friend the Federation should be.

“It’s not lost on me that I am in a really privileged position to have the mobile telephone numbers of the chief and the deputy, to have their ear, to be asked my advice and my counsel sought on a range of matters affecting our members, and to be given the courtesy by the force of being listened to. Not always agreed with, obviously, but listened to. And that’s a real valuable tool for the federation.”

He also added that he feels he is an unusual position as a Federation Chairman who is likely to return to operational policing at some point in the future.

Steve added: “I would also like to thank Mark Smith, as the outgoing Chair, for the Federation that he’s handing over to me. Mark has given six years of service in the office as a full-timer and many years as a rep before that, and whilst he goes on to pastures new, I certainly will miss his guidance and advice.”