Case study (in progress): Launching the National Police Association

How JAM Group Media is helping build a new, professional voice for officers, grounded in law, lived experience, and campaign craft.

The UK policing landscape is unusual by design. Police officers are prohibited from taking industrial action, and they are also restricted in the organisations they can join for representation. Under the Police Act 1996, causing “disaffection” is a criminal offence (commonly referenced in the context of strike action), and officers are barred from trade union membership outside the statutory framework.

This context is central to why representation matters so much in policing, and why trust in representation becomes existential rather than optional.

Against that backdrop, JAM Group Media is currently supporting the National Police Association (NPA) to establish itself as a credible, modern organisation that exists to protect those who protect the public.  

The work is not a one-off “launch” moment. It is a long-term programme combining legal exploration, strategic communications, campaign development, stakeholder engagement, and public narrative building; while keeping officer stories and safeguarding front and centre.

Starting with the constraints: defining objectives, parameters, and legal reality

Before messaging, we define the playing field. For the NPA, this means documenting what is legally possible today, where the boundaries are, and how any pathway to increased choice for officers must be built responsibly. That includes a close reading of the Police Act framework that governs police association rights and industrial restrictions, alongside the practical implications for how an organisation can advocate without drifting into performative outrage or legal risk.

This work is also informed by the reality that the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) was established following historical police strikes in 1919 and exists as part of the statutory architecture of modern policing. Whether officers feel well-served by that architecture is an entirely separate question, but the architecture itself shapes what “reform” can realistically look like.

The research phase: understanding the gap, the trust problem, and the representation debate

Our strategy work draws on a mix of: official documentation, public reporting, organisational statements, and the lived issues raised by officers. One highly relevant development is the PFEW decision in 2021 to withdraw its support and engagement from the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), labelling the current mechanism “not fit for purpose.”

Alongside this, the NPA’s work is developing in parallel with a legal challenge aimed at changing long-standing restrictions around police association and union membership with legal firm Leigh Day. A challenge seeking to overturn the prohibition on police union/federation membership outside the statutory model.

From a communications perspective, this combination of structural constraint + contested representation + officer pressure creates a clear mandate: build a voice that is professional, evidence-led, and emotionally truthful; without collapsing into factionalism.

Building the team and momentum: convening expertise and shared mission

A key part of the programme is coalition-building: bringing together people with the right experience, credibility and discipline to handle a sensitive national conversation. That includes identifying subject matter experts, advisers, and operationally credible contributors, then securing time and input through a volunteer-driven model where appropriate.

This stage is rarely visible externally, but it matters. In policing, legitimacy is earned through seriousness: governance, clarity, and competence. Our role is to help create that foundation so communications are an extension of integrity, not a substitute for it.

Communications architecture: one story, multiple campaigns, one consistent standard

We are currently shaping NPA communications around a simple principle: officers’ lives are not a headline. They are a reality. The goal is not to “market” policing. The goal is to present clear, human narratives about the conditions officers face (and what needs to change) without stripping away complexity.

That shows up in campaign design: each pillar is built with a human hook, a reality statement, and a practical reform direction. The intent is to create messages that officers recognise as true, the public can understand, and decision-makers can’t dismiss as vague.

Below is how the pillars are being structured for external comms, with language designed to hold attention while staying grounded.

Campaign pillars in development

1) Pay

Tags: #WorthTheRisk #RewardTheSkillset #MoreThanPraise

This pillar connects the public’s intuitive sense of risk with the reality of police work: knives, violence, trauma exposure, and unpredictability. The messaging is deliberately human-first: not “statistics first,” but “what is a fair exchange for repeated danger and trauma?” The reform narrative centres on restoration, transparency, and risk-aware mechanisms rather than rhetorical gratitude.

2) Safety

Tags: #SafeToServe #SendThemHomeSafe

This pillar is about baseline protection: the idea that no one should start a shift unsure they will make it home. The messaging focuses on assaults, operational vulnerability, and the normalisation of harm. Proposed solutions are framed as standards (what should be guaranteed) rather than optional “nice-to-haves.”

3) Uniform and equipment

Tag: #FitForDuty

This pillar translates a simple truth into plain language: if equipment fails, officers are not safe. The content focuses on fit, lifespan, functionality, and the reality that one-size systems often fail women and specialists. The goal is to turn “kit” into a publicly-understandable issue of protection and professionalism, something we're all invested in.

4) Culture and trauma-informed policing culture

Tags: #CultureOfCare #CultureThatCares

This pillar is designed to be fair: acknowledging why certain cultural dynamics formed (including generational trauma and coping mechanisms) without slipping into blame narratives that target officers as individuals. The focus is on building modern systems that make it safe to seek support, safe to report issues, and possible to thrive, not just survive the job. Dark humour in policing didn’t emerge because officers are indifferent or callous. It developed as a coping mechanism in response to repeated exposure to trauma, violence, and human suffering.

5) Single-crewing

Tag: #TwoOnDuty

This pillar is framed through everyday empathy: most people would not accept being sent alone into high-risk situations as a norm in their job. The messaging is about operational design, predictability of backup, and reducing preventable harm, while staying pragmatic about resourcing realities.

6) Family life, time off and working away

Tag: #TheOtherFrontline

This pillar recognises the hidden workforce behind policing: families carrying emotional load, cancelled rest days, unpredictable rotas, deployments away from home. The intent is to shift “wellbeing” from a soft concept into a structural one: recovery time, stability, and support that protects the person, and their families, not just the role.

7) Specialist recognition

Tag: #CourageCompensated

This pillar is being handled carefully to avoid ethical muddiness. The focus is less about “extra money for heroism” and more about consistent national recognition of skill, risk exposure, retention, and the psychological burden of specialist decision-making, paired with safeguards and support.

8) Wellbeing

Tag: #BehindTheBadge

The behind the badge pillar is being built as a long-term narrative series, rather than single moments. The creative approach is grounded in story: the human cost, the cumulative trauma, and the gap between public assumptions and real life. It’s designed to make space for officers’ voices without sensationalism.

Stakeholder engagement: MPs, public visibility, and disciplined advocacy

Alongside campaign work, we are supporting the NPA to engage stakeholders and build visibility where change can happen; briefings, narrative framing, and the groundwork required to bring political attention to the representation landscape and officer realities.

This is the less glamorous part of comms, but it’s the part that creates leverage: clarity of ask, consistency of evidence, and messaging that can survive scrutiny.

Where this is heading

The programme of work is ongoing. The next phase will explore: campaign rollout sequencing, editorial and content systems, long-form storytelling, and a communications approach that holds two truths at once: policing is a public service under pressure, and officers are humans with limits.

If the NPA is to offer officers meaningful choice and credible support, it has to be built with the same standards officers are expected to uphold: professionalism, responsibility, and integrity.

That is the standard JAM Group Media is helping to design.