Pagan Police Association
Taken from an open email from the Pagan Police Association http://www.policepaganassociation.org/index2.html
***
You all may have seen yet another media frenzy in relation to the PPA, which is not in itself unusual - what I would like to say is that we are up and running, we are a national staff support association, and we are actively looking for members. We have not applied for Home Office funding on advice from the NPIA, and we are totally reliant at this time on membership fees; this may change in the future when the opportunity to apply for funding arises again. At the moment it is deemed preferential to be self-funding, so that we are not guided by the policies of any external funding body.
To clarify, we have not successfully lobbied to obtain 8 additional days leave for Pagan officers and staff, nor are we responsible for incorporating a Pagan oath in to the Justice System - which has been in place for several years. The 'additional' days leave is a misunderstanding of how our leave systems work, in that we take our 8 days off by application instead of (not in addition to) the usual 8 days, meaning that we work for normal rate on days such as Christmas, but will be paid extra if asked to work on days observed in the Pagan calendar - as I've pointed out, this has been possible since 2003 thanks to ACAS.
What we need to do now is to encourage as many Pagan Officers and staff to join as possible and boost our membership - this will prove that there is a growing section of the police service that would benefit from the PPA, and that we truly are representative of our communities, which are also counting more and more Pagans among their numbers.
Our current membership stands at £12.00 per annum, which will earn you membership to the PPA, access to the forum on the PPA website, and the support of other Pagan officers and staff across the UK, all for £1 per month.
I make no secret that as a new and fairly small staff support group, we have a limit to what we can offer, but that will change once we are able to accumulate funding to purchase such things as stands for recruitment days, leaflets for presentations and seminars, and the ever-requested pin badges and warrant card lanyards. We have already been asked to provide a presentation on Paganism to one constabulary, which is the first step of educating the police service about Pagans in the police and the community, and bridging the gap between the two, and we are compiling a package for the NPIA so that each force intranet site can incorporate a PPA page for those wanting to know more.
We would not have been able to achieve what we have without the support from those of you who contacted us, lent us your support, and attended our public meetings in order to contribute your knowledge and experience throughout the last few years; all of the documents and presentations have incorporated information, corrections and details provided by those of you who are truly invested in this venture.
The future offers us so much, and as the PPA evolves with the assistance of it's new members, we hope that the profile of Pagans within the police service achieves the recognition it deserves!
***