‘Listen to the troops’ to improve force morale

SOUTH Yorkshire Police needs to start “listening to the troops” if it is to improve the morale of officers in the force.

Zuleika Payne, Chair Elect of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said officers are at “an incredibly low ebb” and that it is no surprise the morale of South Yorkshire Police officers is the lowest in the country given negative media attention.

She was responding to the results of a survey by the Police Federation of England and Wales, which showed that 72% of officers in the force said their personal morale was low.

And 98.8% of officers said morale across the force was low, with nearly three-quarters of officers saying they would not recommend a career in policing to others.

Zuleika said: “When you consider the media issues that the South Yorkshire Police has had to contend with, one can’t help but anticipate that actually to fair as badly as we did in this survey perhaps comes as no big surprise.

“A lot of this relates to the legacy issues that the force has had to revisit, and we respect and acknowledge the need for that work to be done. The significant fall in officer numbers is another contributory factor as officers are expected to absorb more and more work.

“Officers are at an incredibly low ebb but despite all that are still managing to soldier on in the face of adversity to try and provide a quality service for the people whom they encounter.

“What we need to be focusing on is listening to the troops. It’s really important that the force looks at areas around health and well-being, and officer safety.

“It’s all those support mechanisms and wrap around services that are so important for the officers who are out there 24/7. There needs to be support for the frontline officers and it is reassuring to see this area of work being developed and the force taking a more holistic approach.

“This is about supporting officers who are in the workplace, but also those who may be absent from work, supporting them to get back into the workplace. What is key to all of this is that our officers, our staff, actually feel valued. They are afterall, our most valuable asset.”

“This week saw the launch of the staff survey, which is a fantastic opportunity for officers to make their views known. There is a real appetite amongst the senior leadership group to capture these views so I would urge officers to please complete the survey and make their feelings known.”