Federation’s Advice On Coronavirus

SOUTH Yorkshire Police Federation has had to change the way it works during the Covid-19 pandemic but is still is offering practical support members – including those who have fallen ill with the virus.

Chairman Steve Kent said Reps are keeping in touch with all officers, and checking up on the thankfully small number who have contracted coronavirus.

He said: “We’ve got officers who actually fall ill with it and are tested for it, but we’ve not had that many yet. We’re obviously reliant on the force to let us know or for colleagues to let us know, but when we do we link in.

“One of our own Reps has actually had coronavirus and has been quite poorly. He managed to stay out of hospital but he’s been quite poorly with it.

“So we just offer whatever practical support we can, keep checking up on them and making sure they’ve got someone to look after them.”

Steve also said officers should limit their exposure to media stories about the virus to protect their own mental health, and focus on making themselves aware of the facts around any issues they might be worried about.

He explained: “From our point of view, proactively putting the message out there to reassure people is one thing, but what we tend to find is people contact us en masse with their own individual concerns.

“That’s when I get to engage with them on a one-to-one basis and say, ‘let’s manage expectations’, and try and put it into a bit of context.

“One of the things we’ve put out as the Federation is to try and manage cops’ exposure to the media because I think they could get ground down, especially with people from some outlets, it’s just so negative.

“There almost needs to be a limit on how much media you expose yourself to. It was depressing me at the start of it, if I’m honest.

“To be fair to the the force also put out a pretty much daily update about Covid, about PPE, about what they’re getting in, about what the updates are, so cops have got somewhere to literally click on their email every day and they can see that update.

“And a lot of people are working from home as well during this period, they’ve been managed properly. People have got a laptop, they’ve been linked in a lot with managers.

“We’ve got small numbers infected, and the people who are working from home are still, from the looks of it, being effectively managed.”