Police numbers: The new Government must fund the frontline
THE new Government must fund more officers for the frontline.
That’s the message from South Yorkshire Police Federation which wants ‘more investment’ in officers’ health and welfare alongside more bobbies on the beat.
Policing is one of the hot topics for all parties contesting the 12th December general election, and Federation Chairman Steve Kent wants whoever is in power to start an ‘upward curve’ in officer recruitment.
“In terms of what we want from Government, we are recruiting from our own money that was freed up, [and] coupled with the officers that the Government has pledged so far is a huge step in the right direction,” Steve said.
“But we need to be mindful that this will take a while to embed and will only get us back to where we were in 2010. Any Government that comes in, there needs to be continued investment beyond this 20,000, and there needs to be a commitment to increase the numbers and also to focus on measures to deal with officers’ stress and workloads, and to deal with officers’ mental health while they’re doing their jobs.
“It needs to be an upward curve rather than just a quick step and then carry on as normal.”
South Yorkshire officer ranks could swell by 150 officers if recruitment plans are seen through, taking total officer numbers up to 3,000.
It’s a start Steve says, but will only get the force back up to 2010 levels.
“As well as those 150 officers we’re getting a similar number from our own budgets. The expectation is eventually South Yorkshire will get back towards the 3,000 figure, which is a great start, but again we’re only getting back to where we were in 2010.
“I’d still like to see continued investment so that number steadily increases over the next decade really, to get there to be a lot more police officers on the beat.”