Police demand and capacity – there needs to be immediate action

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair, Steve Kent, has admitted that the latest figures taken from the forces Demand, Capacity and Welfare Survey “makes for grim reading”, after it was revealed that 82% of officers have suffered from health or wellbeing issues in the past 12 months.

The picture in South Yorkshire matches a similar trend across the country, with 90% of officers indicating that they feel there is not enough officers to effectively do their jobs.

Furthermore, 95% said that they disagreed that there were enough officers to manage all the demands being made of their unit.

In addition to this, the survey revealed that 68% of South Yorkshire officers have often or always had to neglect some tasks because they have too much to do, whilst 65% have rarely or never been able to take their full rest break entitlement.

Steve, said: “It is absolutely clear that nationally, and at government level, there needs to be immediate action aimed at improving officers working conditions.

“The alternative is that officers begin to break and the subsequent domino effect will then pile on the pressures to the officers left to continue with the workload that the burnt out officers leave.

“We as a force are one of the few that are recruiting which in time will make a positive difference, however will it be enough?

“I will be meeting with the senior leadership team within our force to address the results of the survey as soon as possible”, he added.