South Yorkshire Police officers urged to have their voice heard in Demand, Capacity and Welfare survey

SOUTH Yorkshire Police Officers need to fill in the PFEW’s Demand, Capacity and Welfare survey if they want to effect change, South Yorkshire Police Federation says.

The annual survey should now be in the inboxes of more than 120,000 rank and file Federation members across England and Wales.

It expires in mid-November.

With a focus on asking officers how they have coped with the COVID-19 pandemic it must be high up on their to-do lists, Federation Chairman Steve Kent said.

“It is the tool we need and provides the data we need to take to senior managers and to Government to effect change,” he said.

“I’m not criticising managers for this but when I go to them with a problem they always ask me for evidence. They’ll say, ‘can you show me what this looks like? Can you show me what you’re talking about in terms of figures or accounts from people?’.

“If I don’t, and I’m only getting that word of mouth feedback, it’s tough to push change forward as a cognisant argument.

“When we’ve got survey results, it’s a really powerful tool to use, especially with some of the stark statistics that we’ve seen from it in the past.”

To their credit, Steve said, the issues it raises are something South Yorkshire Police take very seriously.

“The force is doing its own survey at every rank; our senior command team gets the importance of it.

“I’ll be filling in the PFEW survey, and I would urge officers to take the time and do the same.”