No More ‘Summer Surges’

THE Federation has called on South Yorkshire Police to address long-term resourcing as officers start working longer shifts as part of the ‘summer surge’ to tackle increased demand.

The force has said the shift changes are due to an “anticipated increase in violence” as gigs, festivals and sporting events fill the summer.

On weekends through the summer, half of uniformed staff will be on 12-hour shifts as opposed to the usual eight to 10 hours. Detectives will do similar but over Saturday, Sunday and Mondays to deal with increased prisoner processing and investigation.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “Sadly it’s the second year in a row that the ‘summer surge’ is coming in.

“I understand the reasons behind it and I’m grateful that it’s going to be less impactive than last year. However, this cannot keep continuing, because we’ve got a summer surge which is likely to be backed by an autumn surge, because of Halloween and Bonfire Night, and then we’ve got the football World Cup coming.

“It looks like it’s going to be six months of high demand, and this shows that we need to address longer-term resourcing in the force. I still have the view that the shift patterns potentially need to be looked at again if this is going to be the case next year. We can’t keep having the summer surge.”

On a positive note, Steve said that he expected the new recruits to be bedding in from university at the start of next year, which should “paint a different picture for next year”.

But he added: “We cannot keep doing this, because our officers are worn out. We hear of officers struggling to get leave, and it’s not lost on the organisation. The senior team are aware of that and we’re trying to work with them to minimise it as much as possible.”

If officers were unable to get a break over the summer, they should speak to their local Federation rep, who can start negotiations with their local command teams, Steve said.