Screening Of Officers Reassuring But Disproportionate

The results of an historic screening of officers should reassure the public, but the constant distrust of the police is disproportionate and seriously affecting morale, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

In January, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) published the results of the largest integrity screening project ever undertaken in policing, with more than 307,000 officers, staff and volunteers checked against the Police National Database. Less than 0.15% of records were referred to an appropriate authority, and a fifth of those needed no further action.

This should help strengthen public trust in policing, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said, but he added that he didn’t think it needed to be repeated every year as it put “enormous pressure” on Professional Standards and that “over-scrutiny has a negative effect on officers’ morale”.

Steve continued: “There certainly needs to be a review of this, and it may be better to repeat the survey every two or three years, because there is always the possibility that people will drop down into the cracks of association that could breed corruption within that time.

“But every year would be disproportionate. I am sick and tired of this political and media rhetoric that corruption is rife in the police. It’s present in every walk of life. And 99.9% of cops are really good, hardworking, honest people.

“I know there is misogyny in policing. I know there is bad behaviour in policing. That’s not acceptable, but it is absolutely the tiniest of minorities. I think that policing in South Yorkshire is lightyears ahead of some other public-sector and private-sector organisations for how we root out corruption and deal with bad behaviour. The perception at the moment is that cops are bad until proven good.”

He added: “It’s disproportionate that officers have to go through a constant anxiety of being checked and checked and checked. There’s an old saying: if you’ve got nothing to hide, you’ve got nothing to worry about. But over-scrutiny has a negative effect on people’s morale. We need to restore public trust in policing by pushing back on the media and the Government’s rhetoric.

“The problem is that the media don’t want to hear the good news about policing. Some of our local media outlets have allowed me to give the view of the officers. But not many places are. I’m desperately trying to get on any platform I can to steer the narrative, because at the minute there is no voice for policing and the effect on officers’ morale is so damaging.”