Wear it Pink

Tomorrow (29 October) the Police Service is supporting the Breast Cancer campaign 'Wear it Pink’.

Every year, thousands of loved ones are affected by breast cancer. Having lost somebody very special to me through Cancer, I am delighted that all across the Service, police officers and staff are wearing something pink in support of this very worthy cause.

Obviously police officers, in uniform, will be limited as to the degree of their pinkness Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and accounts for nearly one in three of all cancers in women.

At around 12,000 deaths annually, it is the second biggest cause of death from cancer of women. Alarmingly one woman in nine will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

But did you know that men can also suffer from breast cancer and, although it is rare, almost 300 men (in the UK) are diagnosed each year and around 90 men a year die from breast cancer.

The good news is that survival rates for breast cancer have improved significantly over the last 20 years and the most recent figures show around 80 per cent of women in the UK diagnosed today will be alive in five years time.

The increased survival rate is largely due to increased awareness of breast cancer, the introduction of the screening program and the successes of breast cancer research, which have led to improved treatments that are now available.

This is just one example of the long tradition of very generous charitable giving by the Police Service of Northern Ireland. In fact very recently we won a National Pay Roll Giving Excellence Award in recognition of the number of police officers and staff who donate monthly to a nominated charity of their choice.

You won't often read about the generosity of police officers and staff in the media, but just as we tangibly deliver a police service every day of the week, in the background we also financially support those who need help and support of a different nature.

So I hope tomorrow you will join with your Police Service, family members, friends and colleagues to 'Wear it Pink’.