Hi everyone,
Well its 4 months since I last wrote which is disgraceful! Sorry, but IAWP life for me has been very busy. First of all there was conference in St Johns. Wow did we journey to the edge! I actually managed to visit the most easterly spot of N.America in the weeks holiday after conference. And all I could see was water.
Conference was brilliantly organised by Sue Bill from Newfoundland Constabulary and Colleen Fox from the RCMP. Over 760 delegates experienced fabulous weather, many and varied seminars, the famous opening ceremony and the Awards luncheon, a great social life ( do those South African ladies know how to organise a party?) and even a tropical storm that put the lights out on Tuesday for awhile. Did it bother us? No we just carried on in the dark with torches.
With the Olympics and paralympics just ending it was good to see 10 delegates form the UK make it to St Johns. Special mention to England's DCI Shab Chaudri and Mrs Amy Parsons who were IAWP award winners. Amy couldn't make it as she is expecting twins at the beginning of November. So her line manager, Det. Inspector Andy Maxfield came instead to collect her award. He still says it was the best report he ever wrote because Amy won two awards and he got to come to Canada and collect one of them for her. Why don't you consider nominating someone for an award? Have a look at the testimonies on the website and see if you can think of someone in your Force who deserves international recognition.
The AGM (sorry longest one in history I believe) saw the UK successfully win the bid to host the 2015 conference in Cardiff, Wales. This is especially important because it is the centenary of IAWP being founded in 1915. We promise a great conference to celebrate the past as well as training for the future. The conference co-coordinators are myself and Carolyn Williamson from BAWP. The local Force is South Wales Police and they have a very proactive women's network who are already working hard to plan a conference to beat all others! This is only the third time it will have been held in Europe and so make it a must for you and your European colleagues already. The dates are August 22nd-27th 2015. Plenty of time to start saving for it. Or how about delivering a seminar? let me know anytime if you have a special topic that would be of interest top other officers globally and we'll try to include you in the programme. We don't want just British lecturers.
I followed conference with the Post Conference tour. A 6 day coach trip around some beautiful locations including the first inhabited town in Canada, a site for a native village over a 1000 years old, some attractive and colourful villages, many lighthouses along the rocky coast, and a boat trip around one of the beautiful bays. It was a great way to wind down after conference and I can thoroughly recommend these trips as you are with some conference friends and seeing the sights together. Enjoy!
Coming back to the UK, I had a weekend in which to unpack, do the washing and pack again to attend a two day seminar in Brussels on the role of Women's Staff Associations in the Security sector. A role performed by both BAWP and IAWP. There were delegates from Serbia, Liberia, Canada, Sierra Leone and Senegal too. All experiencing difficulties with their associations being taken seriously. Another reason to affiliate with IAWP as there is strength in numbers. One topic that kept recurring was sexual harassment in the work place. No one should suffer at any time and if you are a victim, please report it to your Force or to your staff association so they can take up the fight on your behalf. IAWP is thinking of ways to make this known to all Forces or as many as we can.
I look forward to hearing from you. What's goign on in your region? Can I include it in the blog? Next year in Hanover, Germany from 18th - 20th, there will be another mini-conference organised by their Police Academy and Chaplaincy. For more information go to www.kirchlicher-dienst-in-pz.de
Best regards,
Julia
