EYES on the Police Federation

You might have seen on Twitter (@eyesonstalbans by the way, just in case you’re not following us…) that we’ve been visited in the shop by Ché Donald who is the National Vice Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales.

The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) are the staff association for police constables, sergeants and inspectors (including chief inspectors).  They are one of the largest staff associations in the UK representing over 119,000 rank and file officers.

Police Officers can have colour vision deficiency (CVD)

We’ve told you the statistics about colour vision deficiency before – that 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women in the UK have some form of colour vision deficiency. Using those numbers, it can be suggested that around 10000 police officers have a degree of CVD.

We’ve already had the pleasure of meeting some police officers with CVD who’ve been into the shop and purchased EnChroma® glasses. They have been able to wear them for work (as well as whilst off duty) and they have helped them significantly in identifying colours of cars, clothing etc whilst gathering evidence.

Whilst the EnChroma® glasses do not cure colour blindness, they do allow some individuals with CVD to see a wider range of colours. We’ve found that they work for at least 8 of 10 people we see with what they’ve identified as Protan or Deutan CVD.

Protan or Deutan??

There are different types of CVD – often referred to as colourblindness. The most common is what people call red/green colourblindness. You can take the test on our app – just download it from your app store by searching EYES on St Albans. Once you’ve got the result, give us a call and we’ll be able to advise on what we might be able to do to help.

Improving Police welfare

The Police Federation have published an article in their latest magazine about their visit to us.

We’re hoping to continue our relationship with the Police Federation to develop the functional testing techniques that could allow officers with CVD to carry Taser.

Book a consultation

Whether you’re a police officer or not, we don’t offer EnChroma® glasses via mail order as we want to go through a thorough assessment process with you first. To book a consultation, give us a call on 01727 838003 and we’ll find a time to suit you.