Dear everyone,
Its March and the UK is showing lots of signs of spring. I hope so too wherever you are. Since last writing, we are now in a New Year and here in the UK its a momentous year as we celebrate Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee ( 60 years) and then the Olympics. Even though I am retired I am still involved with the Olympics as I am an Ambassador team manager. Volunteers who meet and greet visitors to our great capital.
Meanwhile I've been busy with the IAWP Board. At the end of February Jane & Simon Townsley, Carol Thomas and I from England together with nearly 20 other Board members from USA, Canada and Australia went to Abu Dhabi to participate in their first ever Policewomen's conference. Some of us were teaching and some assisting with recruiting new members. But we were all networking and meeting some amazing new friends.
Over 400 female officers came from all 7 Emirates, Oman, Jordan and Iraq. We started with an enormous opening ceremony held at the Emirates Palace hotel. A very prestigious glitzy hotel. Wow! This was followed by two days of training focusing mainly on gender issues. Most of the delegates attended both days and said how much they appreciated the training. The UK Policing advisor I spoke to said he had never seen such a well attended training day and how appreciative the attendees were. All seemed keen to ask us back in the near future.
We then had a couple of days relaxation when we were taken to see the biggest mosque in the world, a trip out to the dessert and a day in Dubai. Suitably refreshed, but sad to leave our new friends, we all then flew together to Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh, to join the Bangladesh Policewomen's network for their first conference, but only after our own IAWP Board's 2 day early board meeting. We debated many topics, accounts and reports. This is especially significant this year as its election year. I am standing unopposed to continue representing you and continuing the work we have already started in Europe and world wide. Please vote when you receive your ballot papers in June. If you need help, please email me for advice, but I strongly recommend we need all the current board to continue and maintain the momentum of their projects.
Back to Dhaka, which was very, very different from Abu Dhabi, but not the enthusiasm of the ladies there. We stayed in the police Staff college which is where all the meetings were held. Apart from the opening ceremony where we moved over to a hotel and heard speeches from our president as well as the Bangladeshi networks' President. Then several senior civil servants, the Minister for Women & Children and finally, the Home Secretary herself. As in the Emirates, this shows how much the government supported IAWP as well as their Policewomen.
Both conferences will be written about and include plenty of photos in the next magazine, but if you want more info' now I recommend the Chaplain's blog and region 12s blog too. So an exciting start to the year. I look forward to hearing from you in the coming months. If you have some news you want to share, please forward it to me ASAP. If you are riot trained or a firearms officer and don't mine featuring in a UN magazine focusing on European women in security, please let me know so I can arrange for your interview.
And finally, don't forget the St John's conference in September. We'd love to see you there. As there will be few UK members there due to Olympic commitments. We want your support as Cardiff, capital of Wales is bidding to host the 2015 conference. A local venue for Europe. No excuse then if we win the vote. To date no one else is bidding, but that could all change between now and the AGM. I look forward to continue representing you over the next 3 years.
Best regards,
Julia
