Thames Valley Police join protest

Alex Gore • Published 24 Jan 2008 16:50 0 Comments

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AN ESTIMATED 700 off-duty officers from Thames Valley Police joined 17,000 colleagues from across England and Wales yesterday as they protested in London.

Officers marched on Westminster to show their discontent with the Government and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's failure to backdate their pay rise recommended by the Police Arbitration Tribunal to September 1.

They say that by paying the increase only from December 1 effectively reduces it from 2,5% to 1.9% and below even the blanket pay policy introduced by the Government for public sector workers.

With police officers prohibited from joining a trades union, the row has stirred some increasingly militant officers to demand the right to take industrial action.

Ironically a Government law change last year bans protest marches from entering Parliament Square, so the rally ended at Westminster's Central Hall, where Reading West MP Martin Salter was one of the speakers.

Mr Salter says that, because the money for the settlement is already in the budget, it should be paid.

He added: "To lose the confidence of the crime fighters themselves is not clever politics and it is not right."

Thames Valley Police Federation chairman Maurice Collins said: "The mere fact that 700 police officers from across Thames Valley Police are prepared to travel to London in their own time, illustrates just how angry and betrayed we feel at the behaviour of the Home Secretary.

"We urge the Home Secretary to reverse her decision and pay Police Officers what they are entitled to."

This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 24 Jan 08

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