More frontline police officers ‘are on the way’

PUBLIC confidence in the police is growing, and even more officers can be expected on South Yorkshire’s front line, the Federation has confirmed.

The news has been welcomed by South Yorkshire Police Federation, which has been campaigning for an increase in police numbers for years.

Steve Kent, Federation Chair, said: “This is good news. That increase in public satisfaction is because they appreciate more what we’re up against, they see the hard work that we’re doing. So even though ideally they want more officers on the beat, the public can see that we are improving. And it is a timely boost for officers to know that at least the public appreciate that increase, because officers are working really hard.”

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services revealed in January that more than 60% of people are satisfied with their local police – an increase from 53% last year – and that almost three quarters of people feel that police respond effectively to 999 calls. Two thirds of those surveyed also felt that their local police treat people fairly and with respect.

But more still needs to be done to invest in policing, Steve said. “There is a lack of visible policing. At the end of the day there needs to be more investment in frontline policing. Our force itself is recruiting and we’re recruiting officers every month this year, but it’s going to take a long time for them to come through and we’re going to need more than that, so we need to have the funds to continue on with that to get us up to the numbers we need to be.

“There’s no two ways about it; we’ve lost essentially a thousand officers over a ten year period and that needs to be redressed because those officers need to go back into neighbourhood policing, which is what the public want. The public keep telling us they want to see bobbies on the beat, they want to see bobbies visible here, there and everywhere. So the only way we’re going to do that is carrying on the good work we’re doing at local level, but we need that assistance as well from central Government to get the numbers back up.”