Retired Officers Who Care (ROWC), is a group created by Kevin Moore and some retired colleagues in April 2018. Its membership which is rapidly increasing, consists of retired police officers, mainly from Sussex Police, who still have an interest in what is happening within the police service today. Whilst this in the main involves events in Sussex Police, it also has a link to policing and its developments more widely.

The group itself is not in any way politically motivated but was created as a result of what its members fear to be an ambivalence by senior members of Sussex Police regarding the current situation. It is felt that as a result the public are not fully informed.

Its main focus therefore involves challenging the Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex Police (PCC) and the Chief Constable (CC), regarding the issues relating to a lack of police officers within the Force. Numbers have fallen within the Force from 3200 in 2010 to around 2540 as of now. This has led to a fall off in acceptable levels of service to the public in terms of response to calls for assistance and the investigating of criminal offences reported as well as other matters. ROWC believe that more should be done by the hierarchy of the Force to lobby central Government for additional funding as well as providing the public of Sussex with an honest assessment of the problems facing the organisation.

The terms of reference for the group are set out as follows:

1. To raise matters of a policing concern with the Chief Constable and the PCC of Sussex Police as appropriate.

2. Where deemed to be appropriate to demonstrate public support for the currently serving police officers of Sussex Police.

3. To utilise the media and other relevant outlets in order to draw to the attention of the public policing issues affecting them in order to gain their support.

4. To challenge as appropriate the Chief Constable and PCC of Sussex Police on matters involving policing.

The last few months since the inception of ROWC have been extremely busy with numerous challenges in order to support serving officers and staff going to the PCC and the CC. Additionally. The group have embarked on a hard hitting media strategy in order to ensure that the public interest is best served through the residents of Sussex being kept informed regarding the issues affecting Sussex Police and policing more generally.

See some of the media activity below:-