‘Perfect Storm’ Leads To Policing Difficulties

Three quarters of police officers say they get zero appreciation from the public for the difficult and dangerous job they do, new research has found.

And 86% of officers say their job has got harder in the past five years, with nine in 10 (93%) saying the service is both underfunded and understaffed, according to the Ipsos Mori survey.

And officers are fed up that they can’t spend more time on the beat. Seven in 10 police officers (71%) say they spend too much time doing admin and desk work, while half say they spend too little time in the community.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said this is down to a perfect storm of relentless pressure and understaffing.

He said: “For a force the size of ours, with the football and public order commitments we have which are equal to a force the size of West Midlands, it’s no wonder our officers are worn out and fed up with the situation and how hard they are having to work.

“There needs to be a total overhaul in the way police forces are funded police pay needs to be increased, and police numbers need to rise. We are still 400 officers down on where we were at our peak. That is just not acceptable.”

Steve said officers are “heroes” to make the sort of sacrifices they do, such as constantly having to cancel rest days to get the job done, but media representation shows the opposite.

He explained: “The media can focus on the negatives in policing and not the overwhelming positives. The tiny proportion of the corrupt few eclipses the actions of the vast majority of hard-working, brave officers. It really gets colleagues down, and they’re sick to death of it.

“I hear in briefings how fed up they are. They have a perception that everybody hates them. But I know that’s not the case because I speak to the public and the silent majority of them support officers.”