Officers Quitting Policing In Their Thousands

Thousands of officers are leaving the service due to a crisis in morale, new research has shown.

New data shows that 9,192 officers quit 43 forces in England and Wales in the 12 months to March – the most in a financial year since comparable records began.

Officers at South Yorkshire are leaving the force because “they’ve had enough”, Federation Chair Steve Kent said.

Steve added: “The finances are not there, there is too much pressure and too heavy workloads. At South Yorkshire Police, we are seeing officers looking at ways of leaving policing.

“I have frequent conversations with officers who tell me they are looking for another job – and that they are going as soon as they find one.”

Morale is also suffering because of workloads, officer assaults and lack of perceived respect from the Government, surveys have shown.

Officers are also struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, with the average police salary at around £30,000. A report by the Social Market Foundation think-tank earlier this year found that officers had seen a 17% real-terms pay cut since 2000.

Steve added: “That’s the problem, even in Yorkshire where the cost of living compared to the wages is probably a bit more positive compared to probably our southern colleagues.

“The public really do need to wake up to the fact that you could start seeing a serious drain on policing going forward; and that is the drip-drip of resourcing, drip-drip of being the poorest paid officers in the G7, and the drip-drip of morale, which is fairly decimated.”