Planning and delivering the support we wanted to provide to
mutual aid officers during the Olympics took our project team over
a year from start to finish.
The experience is one I will never forget and I'm so proud to
have played a part in it. It's the largest collaboration of its
kind we've ever undertaken.
We relied heavily on the experience of the MPS logistics team,
to work with us to design a package of practical health and
wellbeing support that would genuinely be of use to mutual aid
officers. The strength of that relationship was really the key
driving force behind the success of the project and I can't thank
them enough for their wise counsel.
Through the riots of 2011, they had learnt so much about
managing a large influx of mutual aid officers and they had a
really clear idea of the support officers needed when away from
home. All of which had to be subject to the most stringent scrutiny
- the world was watching!
We've received very positive feedback; from members, mutual aid
officers and our friends in the MPS. They really appreciated what
we were able to do, which included providing, among other
things:
10,000 rucksacks
- 5,000 health and wellbeing kits
- 300 free health screenings for officers
- 300 one-day gym passes
For us, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show the
real strength of mutuality in practice and what Police Mutual is
all about.
However this project was not just about providing material
support, it was much more than that. It was great to spend time
with our members and we got such a warm welcome from them. I
genuinely believe that they were really pleased we were there,
sharing in a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
We are looking forward to using everything we've learned from
the Olympics to support future events. The Commonwealth Games will
be upon us soon and it would be "Great to be Involved".