OPINION: With the police Uplift programme to recruit 20,000 ‘additional’ officers across England and Wales due to have hit its target at the end of March, change management consultant and former police officer Tom Wheelhouse looks at what the initiative has achieved – and the challenges that have arisen – around the issues of recruitment, retention and resettlement.

FEATURE: The recent Frontline Fulfilment online event attracted an audience and speakers from around the world; Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse, one of the organisers of the event, looks at some of the key issues covered, including mental fitness and resilience, leadership, and personal development.

ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE: Frontline Fulfilment is a collaborative event between the emergency services and education sectors, highlighting the opportunities for a ‘people-first’ future by exploring both common concerns and potential shared solutions; Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse explains the thinking behind next week’s free event, and what it aims to achieve.

OPINION: Headlines talking about the continuing exodus of exhausted emergency services staff raise few eyebrows, suggesting society has become comfortably numb to the plight of frontline first responders; former officer and now Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse says it’s time the public sector started investing in the person, rather than the post.

OPINION: It's time for a proactive approach to frontline health, welfare, skills and career support, believes Mightify CEO Tom Wheelhouse – and investing in action rather than awareness and discussion will bring huge rewards.

Opinion: The lockdown and social distancing means trainers and course providers have had to find different ways to deliver their courses. Despite the challenges of moving a CPD-accredited settlement course for leavers to a virtual setting, Mightify's Tom Wheelhouse found many participants preferred this new style of delivery.

Opinion: As 2019 draws to a close and a new Government is installed in the UK, Mightify's Tom Wheelhouse publishes his own personal 'manifesto' for the emergency services where he calls for a common sense, people-based positive approach in 2020.

insight: When examining police suicides, accurate data is hard to come by in the UK and other countries, making it difficult to understand the scale of the problem, but Mightify's Tom Wheelhouse says it's time to take trauma more seriously which means offering support from day one of a person's policing career.

INSIGHT: With the Government's announcement of 20,000 extra officers and the suggestion that offering those completing thirty years’ service the chance to stay (or come back) might ease the pressure, Tom Wheelhouse examines whether this is a viable solution and what the alternatives might be looking at the wider issues of recruitment, retention and resettlement.

OPINION: While the private sector increasingly sifts job candidates on the basis of personal attributes and transferable skills, policing is moving to a degree-based system. Former officer and now CEO of Mightify Tom Wheelhouse argues that this will reduce diversity and focus on a younger demographic while the private sector widens the net.

Opinion: People are policing's greatest asset, but former officer and now CEO of Mightify Tom Wheelhouse argues the service must be more creative and look for better ways to prevent 'the double whammy of capability and cost walking out of the door'.