NEWS UPDATE – South Wales Police appoints Cardiff Airport Health and Safety Manager as first ever Special Superintendent

NEWS UPDATE

South Wales Police appoints Cardiff Airport Health and Safety Manager as first ever Special Superintendent

Choosing to support South Wales Police in fighting crime, the first Special Superintendent role advertised within the force has found its match in the appointment of Jason Coleman.

By day Jason, from Llanharan, is Head of Quality Safety Health and Environment at Cardiff Airport. A self-confessed proud Welshman, Jason has been working as acting Special Sergeant based at Pontypridd Police Station. He’s been in charge of the deployment of 26 Special Constables to ensure secure policing at events, walking the beat and on frontline operations.

Detective Superintendent Jason Davies has spoken about how:

“Jason’s strategic management of quality and safety are highly desired and transferrable skills.

“Jason started with us in December 2017 as a Special Constable and this swift progression through the Special ranks is a reflection of his dedication and commitment to his role.

“South Wales Police is focussed on increasing the number of volunteers within our ranks as this provides opportunities for community engagement, a different perspective to policing, and enhances our capabilities as an organisation.

“We have been keen to build resilience within our volunteering threads, in particular the Special Constabulary to ensure they have a unique identity within the organisation, are self-sufficient in respect of management, and deliver their own policing plan aligned to the Chief Constables delivery plan.

“To support this objective we have taken the unique step of recruiting a Special Superintendent who will have strategic responsibility to deliver on the priorities, and ensure meaningful outcomes at a tactical level. The appointment to this prestigious role followed a robust and intensive recruitment process to ensure that the successful candidate brought the right skills and experience to the organisation, I am delighted that in appointing Jason to the role we certainly found what we were looking for.”

Special Superintendent Coleman speaks proudly of his employer who he said were very supportive in signing up to the Employer Supported Policing Scheme (ESP) in 2017 and have backed him fully in his application for this Superintendent position.

The police service has a national Employer Supported Policing Scheme, which is a partnership benefitting employers, their staff and the police service by releasing Special Constables and Police Support Volunteers to volunteer in the communities they serve.

“Deb Barber, CEO of Cardiff Airport said:

I would like to personally congratulate Jason on his promotion to Special Superintendent. Jason has been in a position of Senior Management at Cardiff Airport for many years, during which time he has made a significant contribution to the success of the Airport. I am very pleased that this new role gives him the opportunity to utilise his diverse skill set and commitment to making a difference in his community.

“The Employer Supported Policing scheme gives employees the opportunity to learn, enhance their skills, support the local community and provide a real sense of motivation and empowerment, with the commitment of 16 employer-paid hours each month. We are strong supporters of this initiative at Cardiff Airport, and on behalf of the whole airport team I would like to wish Jason every success in his new role.”

Special Superintendent Jason Coleman speaks of his pride in his success:

“I am incredibly proud to take on this unique role, and am honoured to be appointed as the first Special Superintendent for South Wales Police. I thrive on this dual working life and feel I am getting the best of both worlds so to speak, and I get to give something back to the community, particularly in supporting young people.

“I have a child with learning difficulties who has been diagnosed as autistic (ASD Autistic Spectrum Disorder), so just one of the opportunities afforded to me through this role is to give back to the community by supporting campaigns such as the Keep Safe Cymru Card Scheme. The scheme is a police initiative that supports vulnerable people with communications need.

“I also find it fulfilling to support officers and feel I am doing my bit to make our communities safer places to live, and for my children to grow up in.”

Jason draws a comparison with policing to his full time employment at the airport where he says like policing, no day is the same, and highlights the number one priority as being passenger safety and security, and the number one priority for South Wales Police is keeping the communities of South Wales safe.

When asked what he most enjoys about being a Special Constabulary Officer he said:

“I thoroughly enjoy supporting Special Constables from their initial training period through to them achieving independent control status and progressing to responding to the needs of the communities.”

The first task Jason will be undertaking in his new Superintendent role is to improve the efficient use of the hours worked by special constables, a whopping 44,000 hours in 2018, by encouraging all specials constables to achieve independent patrol status for example.

Jason will also be working closely with Chief Officer of the Special Constabulary Dale Cartwright and operational support lead Declan Cahill to deliver on the three year Special Constabulary Delivery Plan.