Resourcing Has Huge Impact On Officer Fatigue

As a new programme is launched to help police officers with poor sleep and fatigue, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said that long hours and lack of resourcing need to be tackled too.

A sleep study piloted by Merseyside Police and Liverpool John Moores University has seen officers wearing a BioStrap device for 120 days to measure heart rate variability, respiratory rates, sleep time and sleep type. The study is now being rolled out to 27 forces, so more officers have a better idea about their tiredness and recovery rates.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “Officers need to be well-rested – we are really concerned about officers’ fatigue levels, especially when it comes to driving police cars and dealing with critical roles.

“But it comes back to resourcing. The force sometimes relies on officers working long hours to deal with incidents and, for example, the complex cases that our detectives are dealing with.

“Officers are tired because they’re having to work longer hours, and this is a massive problem because working shifts as well as long hours can have adverse long-term effects on people’s health.

“We need investment in proper workplace Occupational Health to monitor this more locally, and we need to make sure that officers get the opportunity to take their leave, which they can’t always get because of staffing levels.”