Public Need To Hear Positive Stories Of Policing

SOUTH Yorkshire Police Federation has praised two of their colleagues who went above and beyond to save the lives of members of the public – and said the media should share more positive stories of policing.

Sgt Guss Hudson dived into the River Don to save a 75-year-old man who was being carried away by the strong current, and Acting Sgt Michael Plant ran to a house to rescue a man who had been trapped for 23 hours following a fall.

Both officers were praised in local newspapers.

A family member of the man who was trapped in his house said: “I cannot express how grateful I am for the officers who made sure he was OK. Without their help, we don’t know what would have happened.”

Meanwhile Supt Neil Thomas said of the River Don incident: “I have no doubt in my mind that Sergeant Hudson saved this man’s life. He thought nothing of his own safety as he entered the water to save the man.”

Steve Kent, Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said that police officers were used to acting quickly and decisively to help the public.

He said: “These are two great examples of policing and have quite rightly been praised in the media, because they are brilliant examples of what our officers do.

“But our officers do this literally week in, week out. Thanks to the newspapers for actually sharing this. We could probably fill these articles every week with some of the stuff that our officers do.

“It’s brilliant that these stories have been highlighted and well done to the officers. The public need to hear that positive side of things just as much as the negative – if not more so, because for every time an officer makes a mistake or does something bad there’s a hundred examples of when they’ve done something good.”