‘Question time gives officers a chance to air their views’

THE state of IT in the force, issues around collaborative working, voluntary severance and investigations by the Independent Police Complaints Commission all came up at the force’s latest Question Time.

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to get things off your chest,” said Zuleika Payne, Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation.

She attended the event on 14 February alongside the Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings and the Chief Constable Stephen Watson.

Zuleika added: “It’s great to have a frank dialogue and give concerns an airing. You can hold people to account, ask the question that perhaps other people want to know the answer to but daren’t pose it.

“When people have those questions that niggle and gnaw away at them it’s a fantastic opportunity and cathartic for some. And it’s great to hear the answers from those who are accountable.”

While there were only 17 officers and members of staff in attendance at the last event, Zuleika said she would encourage people to come to the next force Question Time in a few months.

She concluded: “What’s important to note here is that perhaps we don’t see the attendance figures we would like, however we recognise that people are incredibly busy and they have other commitments. But the organisation is keen to offer these sessions and it is keen to promote them.

“It’s really important that views are shared, that they’re aired, people get a point of view across and people are listened to, because the recent [force] peer review shows that in the past the organisation hasn’t listened, so this is a way of correcting that and addressing it by people having their voice heard.”