Steve Williams: The time was right to retire

WHY is the chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales retiring? Is he leaving a “sinking ship”? What next for the national staff association and the Fed review?

Following the announcement of his retirement, CopperConnection spoke to Steve Williams (pictured) about his decision to leave the organisation following annual conference in May.

See the full interview here.

Why are you retiring from the police service?

I have been thinking long and hard about retirement. I had my 30 years full service on 3rd January. I have enjoyed my career immensely. I have a very young family – it is a huge commitment. People will say “well you should have thought of that before you took the job on” but I am away from home six days a week and I am missing my family. Whilst I enjoyed my chairmanship and the independent review, I thought the time had come to take it to conference and push it as far as I can with the support of colleagues up and down the country and for a new chairperson to pick up the mantle from where I have left off.

You mention the review you instigated – why are you not seeing it through to the very end?

I think the time is right for me now to retire. It has been difficult. I make no bones about that. It has been tough along the way and it does have an effect on you as an individual. It has had an effect on me and my family. And I am still pleased and proud of having instigated the independent review. I think it is the right thing to do for the organisation to change. Everyone accepts that now. And I wish my successor all the best at Joint Central Committee and branch board level to help drive the change across the organisation that desperately needs to happen.

Are the changes going to happen now that you’re going?

I think it will happen. I think they would have happened had I stayed. But I think [announcing retirement] has assisted almost as a catalyst really in my opinion. The fact that I have announced my retirement from the service and a lot of people have stood up and said “what’s that about” and I do think now there is an absolute willingness around the country to make sure that the changes are implemented. I just think its onwards and upwards now for the organisation. We’ve had an awful lot of negative media and I would like to think the watershed moment was the Dispatches programme [on Channel 4]. It wasn’t very pleasant hearing, it was quite critical. And I do think now we need to put all the negative stuff behind us. We are an organisation on the move. We are an organisation that is changing and will change and I think it is going to change for the better.

Some officers have said that you are leaving a sinking ship. Is that fair?

No. Far from it. The Federation is on the up now. The recognition is there that we need to embrace the independent review. There are some things that are going to be difficult to implement. There are some things that might not be implemented. But we need to be very positive about the independent review, and the changes and the membership – everywhere they have looked for evidence, they have found that we do need to change and there is that holistic acceptance. I do genuinely believe and I have been inundated with emails, texts messages, calls and there is a real drive…

Are some people blocking change? And if so, why?

Some people have been resistant to change from the very first announcement that we were going to conduct an independent review of the organisation. And people are entitled to their opinion. We are a huge organisation, representing in excess of 124,000 police officers and we have such a huge representation, it is clear we are not going to win everyone over. People do have different opinions, we are a democratic organisation and that is absolutely right and fine. But the majority of people involved in the Federation want to now see this change happen.

Were you bullied?

I have had some difficult times. I have been met with a lot of resistance in various forms along the way from up and down the country and some people didn’t like the way the independent review came about but as they say, we are where we are now and there is that belief and acceptance that this has to happen but there will always be people out there who do not agree with the independent review and who would not like to see it progress but they are entitled to those views and opinions.

Do you have any regrets?

No. I am still extremely proud of my police service. I have been extremely proud to serve North Wales and I have been extremely proud to serve the Police Federation and equally to have become the chairman of such a fine body and representing the fine ranking officers of this country. It has been an honour and a privilege and I have very fond memories and I am as keen now as when I first joined and am equally keen to ensure that we do as much as we can to ensure the review comes out in the end in a very positive way.

What would be your message to front line police officers?

We have had some serious negative media… It only seems to be the bad news that is reported upon. The hard work that police officers do – there is some fantastic work that I see and recognise it, but for whatever reason it is not always recognised by the media. The police service in general I think that for the last 18 months has had a very hard time and I think that it is time for that to change and for there to be recognition for the good work that police officers are doing on behalf of the communities that they keep safe.

What is your hope for the upcoming conference in Bournemouth?

I am very upbeat about conference. I think it is the most important conference will have ever attended since our inception and I think it will be a defining moment and it will define the future of the Police Federation of England and Wales there has to be clear and for everyone to understand for us not to pick this up will be a fatal error. And I do think there is that understanding for us to embrace this now.

What do you think the Federation will look like in five years’ time?

I think there will be a slimmed down version. I think there will be issues around finances, in as much as it has been heavily reported that the Federation is sitting on vast sums of money – that is I believe having been through good husbandry and it is right that we do have reserves but I think people will take a closer look at finances and some of the powers that be may push in the direction of funding and funding conditions and I think that is a concern but I think there is a real potential for the Police Federation around the future of funding of reps.

What next for Steve Williams?

I am going to have some family time. It is long overdue. I will take stock. I will have to keep busy. I will go crazy if I don’t have something to occupy me. So I will take a few months and take stock and see what happens.