COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

Coventry’s police force is being accused of insulting former officers by asking them back as volunteers just weeks after they were pushed into retirement.


Former motorway cop Simon Westwood also volunteered to work for nothing after being forcibly retired under rule A19

Around 300 of the region’s most experienced officers have lost their jobs after a controversial rule – A19- which forces anyone with 30 years service into retirement – was officially brought in on April 1st.

In the past few days letters have been sent to them all, offering them the chance to return to the force – but as voluntary Special Constables.

Former PC John Rollason has signed up – but he says a lot of his old colleagues are furious:

“Everyone’s first reaction was a big belly laugh you know, how dare they after what they’ve done to us and then you could feel the anger from people, actually they felt quite hurt about it, that’s how much they think of us.”

“It shows that you’re actually needed, that having got rid of so many of us it is going to have an effect that they do need us back there. But why should we go back and do it for nothing?”

A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said:

“West Midlands Police were approached by an officer who was retiring under A19 and re joining as a Special Constable. He wished to write to his colleagues to ask them to consider remaining as a Special Constable upon retirement.

“Retiring officers can offer unique skills and experience which could benefit our communities if they are interested in volunteering as a Special Constable.

“West Midlands Police will support officers retiring under A19 who wish to consider this option.”

West Midlands Police scraps A19 retirement policy

A regulation forcing police officers to retire after 30 years of service has been scrapped by West Midlands Police.

More than 550 officers have left the force under the A19 rule, which was introduced in March 2011.

The High Court ruled in June that A19 was "not unlawful" after an appeal by the The Police Superintendents' Association for England and Wales.

Chief Constable Chris Sims said the scheme had helped the force save about £100m.

He said: "The force faced an acute financial problem of needing to save £125m. About £100m or more of that has now been found with the majority coming from changes to staff.

"The only way we could make those changes at that pace was to use the regulation and I am delighted to get to the stage where it's no longer needed."

The force's use of A19 was "reviewed periodically", he said.

West Midlands police and crime commissioner Bob Jones said he "fully supported" the decision.

'A good thing'

Plans to recruit an extra 450 officers were announced by the force last month.

In addition, it announced it would recruit 100 police staff between 2014 and 2016.

Mr Sims said: "The big issue A19 created for us was the demographic profile of the force because we've not been recruiting, in affect, for four years.

"We're looking forward to bringing in new people to plug that gap that's been created."

Tom Cuddeford, from the West Midlands Police Federation, said retaining very experienced officers could "only be a good thing".

West Midlands Police said it currently had 7,262 officers after 559 retired because of the A19 regulation.

About 800 had left for other reasons, including transferring to other forces or retiring on medical grounds, it said.

Other forces that have scrapped the A19 rule in the past 18 months include Staffordshire and Devon and Cornwall Police.