Police officers’ work at Tour de Yorkshire gains praise

THE work of police officers in ensuring the safe passage of the Tour de France has been praised by South Yorkshire Police Federation.

Neil Bowles, Federation Chairman, said: “The whole weekend went off excellently because of the hard work all the officers in the county put into it.”

Tens of thousands of sports fans travelled to the region on 5 and 6 July to watch as cyclists raced from Leeds to Harrogate via the Yorkshire Dales National Park and then from York to Sheffield.

And officers endured cancelled rest days and annual leaves to play their part. South Yorkshire Officers stood side-by-side with colleagues from neighbouring forces as they contributed to the staff-intensive mutual aid operation.

However, officers were well received as members of the public shared pictures from their weekend on Facebook and Twitter, along with messages of praise and thanks.

Mr Bowles added: “Officers did of course have their leave cancelled or embargoed until staffing issues were sorted but once that happened everyone pitched in and contributed to an excellent event for Yorkshire.”

Mr Bowles said the exemplary work of police officers proved the picture of a service struggling with public confidence is not accurate.

He added: “It was a brilliant chance to be out there and join in with the local people that we police. We showed ourselves in a non-enforcement role – we were there for public safety more than anything else and it does burst Theresa May’s vision of us being 100% crime fighters. That wasn’t about fighting crime at all. It was about talking to people and keeping people safe.”