The late Tony Judge was a wise old owl and it was fitting that Federation Chairman John Apter paid tribute to him this week during his Central Hall speech to mark the centenary of the organisation that has represented rank and file officers for so long.

Tony, a former Blackpool officer and keen bibliophile, wrote the history of the Federation and had a very strong sense of the organisation’s worth and founding principles.

He also had strong views on what it should not be doing. The angriest I ever saw him was discussing a legal case the Federation was involved in. Tony in the bluntest possible terms said the individual concerned who was no longer of Federation rank, didn’t deserve representation and told everyone why.

But in calmer moods, the easiest way to wind him up was to make reference to the lazy stereotype of ‘Tory supporting police’. As a lifelong Labour Party supporter you were never in any doubt where his own affiliations lay although he was a firm believer that the service should guard its operational independence very fiercely indeed.

This week was an interesting time to be celebrating the Federation’s centenary.  Weeks away from a General Election and a new government the current Home Secretary came to the event and hinted very strongly that the spirit of Glasnost that has broken out between the police service and the Conservative government once more, would continue if it is returned to power.

Views on that will differ but there was broad agreement that the 20,000 uplift is a positive development but will also provide challenges for the organisation that will represent their interests on pay, workplace issues and welfare.

The new breed of officers coming into the service are different and the Federation knows it has had to change to reflect that. These are not just constitutional changes suggested in the independent review of the organisation and implemented in the wake of Theresa May’s conference mauling of the Fed a few years ago.

There is an acceptance that the new generation will not be staying around for 30-35 years but will have three to five different careers during their working lifetime.

They will also have degrees but more importantly an expectation that if they are going to be sent out at three in the morning to pick people off the pavement, with all that entails, the service had better support them.

That support is not just about giving them the best training and equipment that money can buy. It is also about giving them the psychological tools to better deal with the stress that is part and parcel of being a police officer.

As one Federation official put it: “We do need a Gold standard for treatment in the service but unless you invest in prevention all you will have is a queue of officers for that treatment. That is not just about giving recruits a 20-minute video about how to spot the signs of PTSD either.”

The Federation is doing some very good work in this area in partnership with other police and non police organisations.

Thursday’s event was a nice reminder of the good work the Federation does on behalf of its members. It also provided a timely reality check of how the job is evolving.

However, some things don’t change as the Federation’s avuncular vice chair Che Donald, told the audience.  

He said: “There are aspects of this job that are the same now as they were a hundred years ago and no other job in the world is going to give you that.

“There is a famous expression in policing  - it is a three letter word called TJF – they were probably saying it 100 years ago and they are still saying it now.”