I’m Gordon Blake, I currently live in the Midlands and I’m a Sergeant with West Midlands Police. I am a ROC Ambassador because I believe it is a fantastic opportunity to mobilise and empower people and enable anyone who has a desire to make a difference in the community they live in to work together with the civic authorities to change communities for the better.
My involvement started when I joined the local steering group for ROC Birmingham in 2010, and I was part of the team who worked towards the launch event at the NIA last November. I also attended the ROC Ambassadors conference last October.
ROC brings together the professionalism of the civic authorities with the enthusiasm of people who want to make a difference creating more effective partnerships. It empowers communities and professionalises the services they provide bringing them more into the mainstream and allowing agencies like the Police to utilise resources that are already available to them.
When Police and communities work together far more is achieved and people's lives are changed for the better. ROC gives me the chance to combine my passion and faith with my professional life and make a real difference. I believe that it's time for the church to rise up and take its place in society and time for the civic authorities to recognise what they have to offer.
There are a lot of people out there doing excellent work in the communities they live and work in but these different groups of people can become isolated. Churches and community groups may not be talking to each other and consequently not know what each other are doing, perhaps duplicating work that if they combined their resources would make the work they are doing much more impactive and effective.
The Police are not able to do everything and, with these current financial constraints, they will be able to do much less. When communities take ownership of the projects in their areas then they can run them themselves with the assistance of their local Police and other agencies, which will enable more permanent arrangements to be put in place and to provide better continuity for the communities being served by the projects.
There is no limit to the projects we could come up with together; they will be unique according to each community’s needs and requirements. ROC has national recognition within Government and the Police service and is taken seriously by these and other agencies. ROC has a proven track record and is a unique opportunity to provide a professional and personal service to many communities both nationally and internationally and I am excited and privileged to be involved.
For more information on how YOU can become a ROC Ambassador, click here.
