Police Demand Will Rise For Presidential Visit

THE demand placed on frontline South Yorkshire Police officers will escalate when President Donald Trump lands in the UK in June.

The Presidential visit will add to the demands around Brexit and summer policing pressures, South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.

And uncertainty around the President’s itinerary and continued confused messaging around Brexit is making it difficult to plan ahead, said Federation Chairman Steve Kent.

He said: “We can’t have cast iron planning about what’s going to happen with Brexit because we don’t know when it’s going to be.

“As with Donald Trump – we know at some point our resources are going to be required to assist. It’s just a case of not knowing when.

“And then when those resources are required, you will tend to find that officers are quite happy to go and do it, but it then leaves officers on the frontline even more stretched because colleagues are having to go all over different parts of the country.”

The media saying ‘extra officers’ will be on duty to police the President’s visit is not accurate, he added.

Steve explained: “We need a change in language with that. We need to say that officers are being redeployed.

“We had a recent leave embargo which didn’t end up being required because of the proposed Brexit date.

“There will be another one when Brexit’s decided. And that will be a case of ensuring we have enough coverage to cover the officers who are being redeployed en masse.

“I think we can expect the Presidential visit to involve having another heavy police presence and it will be a more significant affair than last year.

“Generally, officers are quite happy to help. It’s a change of scene, to do something different. Officers are can-do people. They’re always willing to help. It’s just that what it leads to back at district, especially as the weather is starting to turn if it gets better and nights tend to draw out, we see an increase in anti-social behaviour. It could have a knock-on effect on that.”