Public Show Support During Policing’s Darkest Hours

The public outpouring of support for fallen officers in the past month shows that people feel more positively towards the police than the media gives them credit for, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

The petition to stop the early release from jail of two of PC Andrew Harper’s killers reached more than a million signatures, forcing the Government to keep them behind bars. And over £1.2m in donations was raised to support the families of Cleveland Police officers PC Tom Clough and PC Matt Blades, who died on duty in the early hours of 22 August.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “Officers in our force and across the country are so used to the negative perception that the public doesn’t support the police, which is peddled by parts of the media and certain politicians.

“But actually, when it comes to the horrendous incident that we’ve seen in Cleveland, and the insulting initial decision to consider releasing Andrew Harper’s killer, you saw the outrage grow among the public.

“The media need to see that there is a public appetite to support policing, and it shouldn’t take officers losing their lives, and someone being released way too early for a horrendous crime, for it to come to the fore.

“Our officers are getting seriously injured; we’re having near-misses every day and there’s no recognition of that danger, because there is such an obsession with the negativity of policing rather than the positivity and what we sacrifice on a daily basis, up to the ultimate sacrifice.

“I think we should take heart from this, and thank the public and most of the media for their support. There needs to be an attitude change, and this kind of support needs to be the norm.”