Goodwill and teamwork are key to policing over the Christmas period

The tree is up, the presents are wrapped, and the food preparations are in full swing, but there’s one thing missing. Every Christmas, many families will be without loved ones as they are working as serving members of our emergency services, from firefighters, and nurses to police officers.

The frontline workers that form our emergency services are the unsung heroes that work to protect their communities throughout the year, but over Christmas, more stress is placed on these services than at other times of the year.

The festive period often sees an increase in domestic violence incidents, alcohol-fuelled fights involving those leaving pubs, clubs, and bars and increases in drink drive offences as a result of party season being in full swing.

Whilst the Christmas period places stress on our emergency services, it’s also a good time to reflect on what has been a major year for them, particularly in policing. This year, policing has seen one of the largest operations to date, the funeral of the late Queen Elizabeth II which involved multiple police forces and organisations working together to perform one of their most important roles ever.

This major event, much like the festive period saw comradery and teamwork be more prominent than ever. The Christmas and wider festive season often sees officers without children, or those for whom Christmas didn’t hold such excitement swapping shifts to allow their colleagues to have some present opening time with their children.

Over the next few days and weeks, as your celebrations really take off, we wanted to encourage you to take a moment and think of our police officers and other emergency workers who will be working so you can have a safe and healthy Christmas. Many of these roles go unnoticed and the sacrifices made by our emergency services are underappreciated, this year at Practice to Progress we wanted to give our thanks and appreciation for all that our emergency services do throughout the year.

Kevin Purcell, Chief Operations Officer for Practice to Progress said: “As a father of two and as a former police officer who worked over many festive seasons, I can sympathise and know all too well with the sacrifices being made by emergency service workers this year. The demand on the services has been bigger than ever of the last few years and it might feel all too much at times.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all that you do, day in and day out to serve and protect our communities, I hope that when you get to enjoy your Christmas that it is a very merry Christmas and that you have a healthy and happy new year.”

To learn more about the support available to people wanting to join the police and how P2P can help candidates prepare for the recruit’s assessment centre, visit https://practicetoprogress.com/recruitment/.