The Metropolitan Police Federation exists not only to promote the welfare of its members but also to help ensure that the Metropolitan Police Service operates to the highest professional standards and that it is fully accountable. The Federation therefore scrutinizes Service policy on a wide range of activities, from the police use of firearms to officer training and uses its expertise to advise and help the Service to continuously raise standards in all its operations. It comprises three autonomous branch boards representing constables, sergeants and inspecting ranks inspectors and chief inspectors respectively, each of which has its own executive committee. Together, the three Executives form the Joint Executive Committee, which acts as the Metropolitan Police Federation. The Metropolitan Federation is affiliated to the Police Federation of England and Wales, which was established by the Police Act of 1919. The Act was passed in response to a strike by officers over pay which they won and it forbade the police ever again to withdraw their labour or for officers to join a trade union which, legally, the Federation is not. Over the ensuing years, the Federation has faced Government hostility and had to fight difficult campaigns to ensure fairness for its members. In 1931, the Government proposed pay cuts throughout the public sector. So strong was the Federations opposition that the Home Secretary banned it from holding open meetings i.e. mass meetings. The prohibition was not lifted until 1942. The Federation also had a strained relationship with the wartime Home Secretary Herbert Morrison who, in 1944, summoned the whole of its governing Joint Central Committee to the Home Office where he told them that they must justify his decisions to the membership and not continue to press claims after he had ruled against them.

Address: Metropolitan Police Federation, York House, 2 Elmfield Park, Bromley, Kent, BR11LU.
Telephone: 020 8464 2322
Fax: 020 8464 4926
Website: http://www.metfed.org.uk/