- Gloucestershire Constabulary has been re-awarded a certification to prove its eco-credentials.
- It has once again been awarded the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001:2015 Certification for Environmental Management.
- Every six months, the Constabulary is inspected by an external expert to ensure that it continues to meet its demanding standards
- Gloucestershire remains the only Constabulary in the UK to hold such a certification.
- The commitment is part of PCC Martin Surl’s Police and Crime Plan priority: ‘A Green and Pleasant County.’
Gloucestershire Constabulary has retained its reputation as probably the ‘greenest’ police force in the country.
For some time, it has been the only one in the UK to have secured international recognition for its commitment to measuring energy consumption and reducing waste.
To retain the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001:2015 Certification for Environmental Management, the Constabulary is inspected every six months by an external expert to ensure that it continues to meet its demanding standards.
Following its most recent inspection, the marque was confirmed for another three years and extended to include the Sabrina Centre, the Constabulary’s state of the art training facility, which opened last year.
Police and Crime Commissioner Martin Surl, who is also the Environment and Sustainability lead for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, has made protecting Gloucestershire as a “Green and Pleasant County” a priority of his local policing plan.
He said, “ISO certification is a demanding process where an organisation has to demonstrate how it deals with the whole range of environmental management issues. For the Constabulary, it includes how it handles its waste, how it manages its fleet to reduce carbon output and how it manages other related policies.
“We are lucky to live in a beautiful county. Making sure we maintain this standard means that we are all looking after it and playing our part in saving the future of our planet. It is an achievement of which everyone involved in the process can be very proud”.
Nowhere is the Constabulary’s commitment to cutting air pollution more evident than in its switch from more traditional petrol and diesel engines to cars powered by electricity.
Already, more than 21% of the Constabulary’s fleet is electric with a target of 40% over the course of the next four years. This figure includes a combination of vans and non-response cars and ensures its fleet is, in percentage terms, more electric than any other force in the UK.
Its evolution has led to recognition too for the Constabulary’s Head of Transport Services Steve Imm who is now ranked 86 in Green Fleet’s top 100 people in the UK who are influencing carbon reduction, better air quality and have helped shape the zero and low-carbon fleet and transport sectors over the year.
Gary Thompson, Police Lead for ‘A Green and Pleasant County’ said, “This puts Steve up alongside CEO’s, company directors and Government officials and is well-deserved acknowledgment.
“We remain the only Constabulary with ISO recognition and the auditor was particularly keen to see our progress at a time when a number of other businesses have put their environmental work on hold due to C-19”.
The PCC’s ‘A green and pleasant county’ policy, which is embedded in his Police and Crime Plan, can be read in full here: https://www.gloucestershire-pcc.gov.uk/priorities/a-green_and-pleasant-county/
