118 South Yorkshire Officers Voluntarily Resigned Last Year

In the last financial year, 118 South Yorkshire Police officers voluntarily resigned from the police service, new figures show.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said the Home Office figures were concerning. He said: “We need to make policing a better place to work, but we also need to start recruiting the right people, who will probably have the tools to stay in that job a little bit longer.”

Steve said he supported bringing back the non-degree entry to policing, which could attract mid-career applicants who had experience in work, such as prison officers and the armed services. He said: “They would be an absolute credit to the force, and probably come with a little bit more in-built resilience in terms of what we do.”

Steve continued: “I’m not saying our young officers aren’t fit to be cops, of course they are: I joined myself when I was very young, and we’ve got some fantastic officers who have joined and have hit the ground running and they’re a credit to the force. But we also sometimes do need more mature applicants as well, with life experience, to complement that.

“This also flows into the wider issues with policing. Police pay is not comparable to the private sector and to other jobs out there, so it’s not necessarily attractive to people, especially when they’re working so hard.”