Thursday, 17 November 2022

Autum Newsletter

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Inside your Newsletter

View from the Chair
Police Federation honours retired Chaplain
From the Website
Why be a Police Officer?
Lincolnshire Police Chaplain Kirstie Clarke
Conference 2024
Training Update
Workplace adjustments for Jewish officers and staff
National Police Memorial Day

View from the Chair

The attentive of you will notice that the photo of the Chair has changed, Revd Canon Adrian Gatrill has stepped down from being the Chair of Police Chaplaincy UK and the Board have appointed Rev'd Dom Jones as the new Chair.

Dom says "I want to pay tribute to Adrian for his time in the Chair and thank him for all that he has done. I am delighted to be the new Chair and look forward to working with the board of Police Chaplaincy UK on our vision of 'bringing chaplaincy to the heart of policing'. I am grateful that Adrian will remain a board member and that we can benefit from his many years of wisdom and experience of Police Chaplaincy.

I am passionate about Police Chaplaincy and am currently the Lead Chaplain in Hampshire Constabulary, but I am also very passionate about Police Chaplaincy UK. I want to see PCUK develop to be the professional body that we need, I want PCUK to be the OneStop shop for chaplains who need training and resources and the place where police forces look for advice on all things chaplaincy. I will work tirelessly during my remaining time as an elected board member and am excited about the adventure ahead.

Please hold me in your thoughts and prayers and if you have any ideas of things, you'd like to see from Police Chaplaincy UK please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Yours

Dom

The retired chaplain who has dedicated the last 30 years to supporting police officers

After spending three years studying to be a minister at Bible College, John Butcher never thought life would lead him into chaplaincy with the Force. Here we are, 30 years after he first started working with the police, John, now retired, looks back at his captivating career, which saw him successfully grow the West Midlands chaplaincy team from just four to more than 150 volunteers across the region.

“Well, my story started when I was in Hackney,” 66-year-old John began.

“I’d trained as a minister and moved down to London, with Hackney being my first church. The community had gang-related problems that included drug crime and multicultural issues. It was in the period of the Gulf War, and the police wanted there to be calmness in the area, so they got in touch with me and other people of different faiths, in hope that we would begin to work together to tackle some of the problems.”

Having been contacted by the Met Police, John started venturing out with officers on a couple of shifts. However, never did he imagine that a ‘little visit out with the police’ would lead to him volunteering and working with the police service for the next three decades.
Continue Reading...

From the Website

Chaplains support Op London Bridge

Chief Constable Olivia Pinkney, National Police Chiefs Council Lead for Police Chaplaincy to leave

Chaplains Support Commonwealth Games

Trust appeals for help to shape new police memorial

Chapel Dedicated to Emergency Services

Why be a Police Officer?

A personal reflection by Graham Choldcroft, Assistant Lead Chaplain, Thames Valley Police

The late John Hopkins, playwright and screen writer of over 90 episodes of Z Cars, once posed the question 'Why be a policeman?'

'They confront the full range of darkness.'' he wrote. 'Their life is a constant confrontation with horror. We ask from them a commitment to our safety and livelihood, and we say, "you will do that for us, it all comes with the territory of being a policeman," but we don't pay them the respect of understanding what a cost it is to them, how much in terms of ordinary life they sacrifice to be our guardians.'

Over the last few years I have frequently asked myself the same question. As I have walked alongside them through years of austerity, seen ever-increasing demands placed upon them in the face of ever-reducing resources, it has been my privilege to witness time and time again, the compassion and commitment of officers throughout the police family. I have witnessed the changing face of policing. Murders and violent crime now seem all too frequent, and fatalities on our roads so common as to be virtually unnewsworthy.

Read full article...

Lincolnshire Police Chaplain Kirstie Clarke

Chaplain Kirstie Clarke died unexpectedly whilst on holiday with her family. Kirstie has been working with Lincolnshire Police across the force and supporting IOM clients for a number of years. Kirstie has provided immense support to both Lincolnshire Police officers and staff as well as members of the public.
Lead Chaplain Tanya Lord said "Kirstie was a joy to work alongside. So full of life and love, she leaves behind husband Noel and Her boys Gabriel and Ruben. Kirstie will be greatly missed." Kirstie was also a great supported of Police Chaplaincy UK and was at this year's summer conference.

Workplace adjustments for Jewish officers and staff

This guide has been developed to provide information for leaders and others in the police service on how they can support Jewish officers and staff.

These recommendations will support policing to continue to be an open and inclusive organisation. They will help to positively shape recruitment, retention and progression, and will assist the service to improve the quality of working experience for Jewish colleagues.

Chaplains can login to the forum to see the full guidance and many more helpful guides such as

Faith Leaders Access to Crime Scenes
National Assocation of Muslim Police guidance on prayer provisions
Sikh Articles of Faith in the Workplace

National Police Memorial Day

We gathered to honour more than 5,000 police
officers throughout the UK and the island of Ireland who gave their lives in service.
Their sacrifice, bravery and dedication to duty will never be forgotten.
National Police Memorial Day took place in Belfast in September, you can read about the service here

Conference 2024

Plan early, get the dates in your diary. We have an exciting new venue!

Training Update

As with all forms of training, the pandemic really forced us to adapt and consolidate our offering. We are also aware that some forces have not been able to access induction training partly through technology restrictions, and also through PCUK'S limited availability to respond to the request.

In recent years Adrian Gatrill (Lead Chaplain in Durham & PCUK board) and David Wilbraham, (National Police Chaplain) have delivered PCUK's Induction Training with the vast majority of these sessions being in person.

As the poli

ce service adapts to new technologies and ways of working, it is imperative we adapt to complement expected training methods. We also recognise the financial restrains that the public sector faces and how this will in-turn effect expenditure on budget lines across policing.

Now is a timely opportunity to review our training offering to ensure our provision is relevant, and accessible . We have put together a working group from the Board of PCUK to consider how we move forward in the areas of training and ongoing personal development.

Your involvement.
We welcome your suggestions of what PCUK's training and development programs could offer. Also if you are experienced in the delivery of training and development, or if you have IT skills to create and manage digital content, we would like to hear from you.

Please send your comments to the training review team by Friday 9th of December via our mailbox This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

If you wish to request a course for the future this can be done via this form.

Final we want to thank you for your patience as we move forward in this vital area.
Helen Arnold, Matthew Hopley Adrian Gatrill, - PCUK Board Members

Police Chaplaincy UK are grateful to Adrian Gatrill, Lead Chaplain in Durham and David Wilbraham, National Police Chaplain for their dedication to this provision over a number of years.