Officers Losing Sleep Over Stress Of Job

Police forces are so under-resourced that officers often feel they can’t provide the service to the public that they want to, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

Steve Kent was speaking after a survey of more than 1,400 public sector workers – including police officers – found that almost half of respondents said they were losing sleep worrying about people who rely on them.

Almost nine in 10 of those surveyed said their workload has grown in the past year, and four in five revealed they are being asked to do more with fewer resources. Three in four respondents said staff who leave are often not replaced.

Steve said: “The fact that a lot of police officers, as well as our colleagues across the public sector, don’t feel that they can provide the service that they should be able to to members of the public, goes back to simple resourcing.

“Cops do care, but you’ve got detectives with dozens of serious cases on their queues, traffic officers who are dealing with numerous fatal accidents where there are families who want support and answers, and response officers dealing with trauma. You do worry about the people you come across and you feel like you have to take ownership of it.

“The knock-on effect is that officers, particularly detectives, end up working in their own time, often for no pay, because they really care about what they do and they care about the people behind the horrific crimes they’re dealing with.

“This isn’t right. And this goes back to the funding and the fact that policing is obsessed with targets so we’re unable to give the public a bespoke service, because all that targets drive is ticking boxes. They don’t really cater for dealing with people on an individual basis.

“Cops feel they can’t do their jobs properly, they can’t look after victims properly, they can’t go after suspects robustly enough, because it’s more about ticking boxes than actually providing that quality of service.”