Northamptonshire Police is proud to support the UK’s military community. On June 20, 2017, the force's former Chief Constable Simon Edens signed the Armed Forces Covenant, a pledge to treat service personnel and their families with fairness and respect.

Written into law, the covenant states that Armed Forces personnel, veterans or their families will not be disadvantaged by their military life when accessing goods and services, compared to other citizens. It also recognises that in some circumstances special treatment may be appropriate, especially for the injured or bereaved.

In signing the covenant, we have pledged to publicise our commitment to its principles. You can read them below, and also submit feedback on how you think we are doing.

Ministry of Defence representative Colonel Stuart Williams, Deputy Commander of 7 Brigade, signed the covenant with former Northamptonshire Police Chief Constable Simon Edens.

An Enduring Covenant Between The People of the United Kingdom Her Majesty’s Government and All those who serve or have served in the Armed Forces of the Crown And their Families.

The first duty of Government is the defence of the realm. Our Armed Forces fulfil that responsibility on behalf of the Government, sacrificing some civilian freedoms, facing danger and, sometimes, suffering serious injury or death as a result of their duty. Families also play a vital role in supporting the operational effectiveness of our Armed Forces. In return, the whole nation has a moral obligation to the members of the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force, together with their families. They deserve our respect and support, and fair treatment.

Those who serve in the Armed Forces, whether Regular or Reserve, those who have served in the past, and their families, should face no disadvantage compared to other citizens in the provision of public and commercial services. Special consideration is appropriate in some cases, especially for those who have given most such as the injured and the bereaved.

This obligation involves the whole of society: it includes voluntary and charitable bodies, private organisations, and the actions of individuals in supporting the Armed Forces. Recognising those who have performed military duty unites the country and demonstrates the value of their contribution. This has no greater expression than in upholding this Covenant.

Section 1: Principles of the Armed Forces Covenant

1.1    Northamptonshire Police will endeavour in our business dealings to uphold the key principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, which are:

• No member of the Armed Forces Community should face disadvantage in the provision of public and commercial services compared to any other citizen.
• In some circumstances special treatment may be appropriate especially for the injured or bereaved.

Section 2: Demonstrating our Commitment

2.1    We recognise the value serving personnel, reservists, veterans and military families bring to our business. We will seek to uphold the principles of the Armed Forces Covenant, by:

• promoting the fact that we are an armed forces-friendly organisation;
• seeking to support the employment of veterans and working with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), in order to establish a tailored employment pathway for Service leavers;
• striving to support the employment of Service spouses and partners;
• endeavouring to offer a degree of flexibility in granting  leave for Service spouses and partners before, during and after a partner’s deployment;
• seeking to support our employees who choose to be members of the Reserve Forces, including by accommodating their training and deployment where possible;
• seeking to support our employees who choose to be volunteer leaders in military cadet organisations;
• aiming to participate actively in Armed Forces Day;

2.2     We will publicise these commitments on our website, setting out how we will seek to honour them and inviting feedback from the Service community and our customers on how we are doing.

If you would like to give feedback about our support of the covenant please email mail@northants.pnn.police.uk