PRESS RELEASE: Disabled Police Association launches at the House of Lords

Disabled Police Association Launched 20.11.12 – Police Oracle

The new Disabled Police Association (DPA) will launch later today (19.11.12) at the Palace of Westminster. The newly-launched DPA has been set up to assist police services across the UK to work positively with disabled police officers and staff in order to enable:

  • Appropriate retention of valuable skills and experience
  • Support for disabled colleagues to contribute fully to policing utilising all their capabilities
  • Effective and fair management of disability in line with the Equality Act 2010, Police Regulations, Health & Safety in the workplace and equality of opportunity

In pursuit of these goals the DPA will work in partnership with key stakeholders such as the Police Federation, police staff unions, Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and Chief Officers in forces, seeking to actively explore and implement all necessary reasonable adjustments that will enable disabled colleagues to be effective in their policing roles.

Speaking ahead of the launch, Rob Gurney, Chairman of the Disabled Police Association said, “Disability has always and will always feature in the police work force & the DPA is all about promoting recognition of people’s abilities, potential & support needs. DPA wants forces to ensure injured and disabled colleagues are treated with dignity and enabled where possible to contribute to policing in positive ways”. He went on to say “The association will provide a strategic voice on behalf of the police disability support networks in forces and wants these local networks to be used as a resource which can offer valuable knowledge and understanding of the impact of disability on peoples lives – disability networks can be especially useful in assisting in the fight against disability hate crime & exclusion from public life”.

DPA Chair Rob Gurney with Lord Simon and DPA members

  • Barclays Bank have shown their support for the DPA by kindly supporting the official launch of the DPA at the House of Lords
  • Thank you to BH1 Promotions for providing graphic solutions to promote the DPA