Officers need more time to learn safety techniques

MORE officers are being assaulted on duty at South Yorkshire Police due to a lack of training and growing pressure on numbers, the force’s Federation has said.

With fewer officers available, they are being increasingly endangered and more needs to be done to protect them, Neil Bowles, Federation Chairman said.

Mr Bowles said: “More officers are being assaulted at work mainly due to the fact there are fewer available. This fits in to the call for a larger role out of Taser. And officer safety training is being cut due to trying to manage the abstraction rates of staff.”

Officers need more time to learn the techniques if they are to work, he added.

“The techniques that are being taught rely on muscle memory and so need to be learnt by repetition, to create those links in your brain to ensure a technique is second nature like driving, rather than being thought about at the time of need. We should be getting more training not less.”

In South Yorkshire, officers get eight hours’ training every year, a Freedom of Information Act request revealed last month – less than the national average.

The highest amount is up to 20 hours a year, with the average of forces who responded to the FOI at 9.5 hours’ personal safety training annually.