COVID restrictions are making policing stressful and challenging for officers
‘CERTAIN pockets’ of people who breach COVID restrictions continue to be challenging for officers, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.
The region has been in Tier 3 restrictions for weeks and has suffered from a sharp rise in COVID cases.
That’s been replicated in many other parts of the country forcing the Government to now introduce plans for another national lockdown due to come into force on November 5th.
It’s a stressful and challenging time for officers, Steve Kent, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman said, and the situation has not been helped by those people who continue to flout the rules.
“The concern from our officers’ point of view is that there are certain pockets of people who seem to be ignoring the restrictions, so we’re still having incidents of mass parties and get-togethers,” he said.
“It’s causing concern for the public, and it’s causing concern for our officers as well who are going out there and being exposed to it.”
Steve says the force have “been exceptional” in the way that they’re dealing with cases of Covid-19 that have arisen in the force.
He added: “It does create that worry in police officers’ minds that this thing is prevalent amongst the workforce and at the end of the day they’ve got to carry on and do their duty to the same level that they always have to do.
“We’ve still got to be here to focus on the more serious matters. COVID is here. COVID breaches are here, but we’re still expected to deal with serious domestic violence and serious crime and other disorder which is very challenging.”
It’s all adding further pressure on tired officers, Steve said.
“Normal demand and everyday incidents still need policing; officers are tired and working long hours and are trying to deal with both this demand and COVID at the same time.
“Officers are out there are working hard, and they are, all credit to them, doing the very best that they can.
“There are officers who have been working longer hours to deal with demand. I think officers, as are the general public, are very tired,” Steve added.
“The concern is that this is going to be a very difficult and long winter without a vaccine on the horizon.”