I want to build on the good work of the branch

Gareth Jones New Chair

 

The new chair of Dyfed Powys Police Federation says he will use his 25 years of experience to represent members at a Force and national level.

Gareth Jones says he is ‘honoured and privileged’ to be elected and is already setting out his priorities for his time in post.

“I put myself forward as chair because I fancied a change in role, the different challenges to deal with and developmental opportunities to work more strategically,” he said.

“My priorities are to continue building on the good work already done by the branch. I want to improve communication with our members, to be more visible across the Force area and to represent the members to the best of my ability on a Force and national level.”

Gareth spelled out the challenges he sees facing the Federation and the Force.

“On a Force level, we need to consider the difficulties of policing post COVID-19,” he said. “I think there may be a change in how we police moving forward.  Returning to a degree of normality is likely to take some considerable time and is likely to have an impact on the way we continue to police our communities. The introduction of Agile working brings opportunities to work smarter and more effectively which will assist members and improve the service provided to our communities.

“And also, we need to counter adverse publicity, such as the media portraying officers in a bad light.”

He added: “At a Federation branch level, the challenges include building on the platform we’ve created within the branch to serve members, ensuring officers’ wellbeing is prioritised and their points of view are taken into account so we ensure we act as a spokesperson for our members at a local and national level.”

  • A more detailed feature on Gareth’s new post and his policing career will appear in the summer edition of the Dyfed Powys Police Federation members’ magazine Chwarae Teg which will be published in July.