Sergeant Liz Groom says she is proud to have been a Cambridgeshire Police officer and to have served as chair of Cambridgeshire Police Federation.
After more than 30 years in policing and a career that has spanned response, custody, the control room, and traffic, and almost a decade leading the Federation branch, Liz is preparing to retire.
Liz admitted that policing was necessarily her first-choice career.
She had been thinking about following in the footsteps of her dad and going into the military, and already had a taste for the armed forces having been an air cadet since the age of 13.
However, she spotted a newspaper advertisement recruiting police officers and decided to apply.
Liz said: “I loved it from the start.
“I look back now after 30 years, and I wonder what if I joined a military first, purely because, my dad was ex-army, and I was an air cadet?
My daughter’s in the air cadets, my son was, and there’s the military in my family.
“So, I look back and part of me wishes I’d done it, but then I’m glad I didn’t, because so many other things wouldn’t have happened.”
Liz joined Cambridgeshire Constabulary aged 20.
“There were five of us on my intake,” she recalled. “It was a really small intake and I was the baby of the group.
“I was definitely the youngest and I felt like a bit of a fish out of water.”
She began her career on response in Huntingdon and said the team helped shape her into the officer she would become.
“There was lots of experience on my team,” she said. Nobody was under five years’ service but they were a really nice bunch of officers, a really nice balance of skills and experience and I fitted right in.”
Liz recalled her first arrest for the theft of a Mars Bar from Woolworths.
“It was the perfect first arrest, though I nearly messed up the caution,” she said.
“I was quite scared of the custody sergeant. He was quite mean to me.
“Later on in my career when I became a custody sergeant I made sure I never did the same to officers.”
Liz spent six years on response during which time she met her husband, Steve, who was also a police officer. They married in 1999.
And she developed specialist skills in public order and sexual offence investigations.
Indeed, at that time Liz thought her future lay in child abuse investigations.
However, after returning from maternity leave following the birth of her son Michael, an inspector recognised leadership qualities she had not seen in herself and encouraged her to act up as a sergeant.
Liz said: “I had a female inspector who was very encouraging to develop women in policing and those with children, she was very supportive.
“I thought she’s recognised something in me I hadn’t considered.
“The minute I had those three stripes on I never wanted them removed.
“I remember studying for the exam feeding my son and no sleep but I was determined I was going to pass.
“And I realised that child abuse investigation was not where I wanted my career to go and that I’d rather be a sergeant.”
Her career took her to custody, the control room and traffic policing. During her period on traffic, she gave birth to her daughter Charlotte.
There was also posting to the Fens that she looks back on as ‘the best period of my service’.
“I had a really good team of people I worked with,” she said. “I had a sergeant, I got on really well with, and was very understanding and accommodating around my son, and we worked really well together.
“An officer over there who I supervised, Rachel Weeks, is my best friend and has been since the time I was over there.”
Liz was now a Fed rep after being encouraged to take up the role by Shaun Ryan, her predecessor as branch chair, who was sergeant’s board chair at the time.
She said that from an early stage she took on increasing responsibility with the Fed branch, such as being appointed sergeant secretary within a month.
Liz said that balancing her Federation responsibilities with her policing work and raising Michael, who was diagnosed as being autistic, was demanding.
She said: “What made it more difficult was I used to work a lot of my rest days when I’d rep somebody because I tried not to disrupt the people I was working with.
“It’s difficult when you’re a sergeant and you’ve got a team because if you’re not there, somebody has to step in. I was always aware of that.
So it was challenging but I loved it. I really enjoyed being a workplace rep because I had the best of both worlds.”
Indeed, Liz admitted it was with some reluctance she stepped away from frontline policing nine years ago to become Cambridgeshire Police Federation chair.
“It wasn’t my career plan,” she said. I was happy in my day job.
“When I look back, was it the right decision? Yes, it was because I think I’ve achieved quite a lot since I’ve been chair, and I think we’re a different branch to what we were.
“But I really missed having a team of people to supervise. I really used to like being interested in what they wanted to do and how they grew as officers.
“And when I came in here, it felt a bit lonely, actually.”
Liz said that under her leadership, the branch has evolved from an organisation that mainly dealt with misconduct representation into one that places strong emphasis on welfare and wellbeing, and on visibility and engagement.
Today, the branch supports officers facing serious illness, bereavement, and assaults on duty, and maintains close links with the families of officers who have died in service.
“We’re more approachable and more visible now than we’ve ever been,” she said. “We do far more than members see because most of them never need us and are never involved in conduct.
“The wellbeing and welfare side is so big now, and you have to acknowledge that evolve and develop.
“We have our welfare caravans now. We do hampers or vouchers who have ABH level of assaults. We do free tickets for various things over the summer.
“New Year’s Eve we delivered pizzas, and during the summer we’ve done cold drinks and ice creams.
“I’m proud of what we do. I’d like to think we go above and beyond.”
Liz said that after retirement she intends to take a few months off to ‘rest and relax, take some holidays and spend time with family and friends’.
“After that find another job,” she said. “50 for me is far too young to completely retire, and I enjoy being busy and like to work.
“I won’t rule out something else in policing but I have no doubt it will be something in public service as that is where my heart remains, or working with animals.”
Liz is confident that the branch will continue to ‘go above and beyond’ when she steps down with chair elect DC Stuart Taylor set to take over. He will be supported by Sergeant Kevin Misik and Sergeant Matt Ward.
Liz said: “I’ve really enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed it because I think we’ve achieved some really good things and we’ve helped a lot of people.
“There’s a lot of satisfaction when you get the right results.”