Support in place for officers who contract Coronavirus

ANY South Yorkshire Police officers who contract the coronavirus or need to self isolate because someone in their household is ill will be supported by the Federation.

Chairman Steve Kent said that the Federation is taking part in the force Gold Group meetings to help steer policies on assisting and supporting officers during isolation.

The Gold Group has been preparing for the impact of the coronavirus for some time, and has drawn up contingency plans to plan for the impact of 10%, 30% or 50% of the workforce being ill.

Steve said: “We have to make sure that officers are contacted as much as possible by their line managers and that procedures are followed in terms of isolation and making sure that they’re OK.

“As you can imagine it’s very difficult to follow 2,500 people, but when we’ve got confirmed cases we need to link in with them so they’ve got a point of contact, and then they can contact the Federation if there’s anything that they need from us.

“For example, I found out a couple of officers may have been exposed at an incident in Sheffield. We’ve made contact with them and given them my details so they can get in touch if they’ve got any specific concerns or develop symptoms.”