What’s your view on Winsor Reforms to policing?

SOUTH Yorkshire Police officers are being asked to take part in a national survey about the challenges and reforms facing the police service.

The survey is part on an independent project being undertaken by the University of the West of England (UWE) and looks at areas such as morale among officers, reactions to Tom Winsor’s review of pay and conditions, and views on government reforms to the police service.

The questionnaire takes around 20 minutes to complete and is anonymous. A report of the overall results will be made available to the Police Federation, which has already helped the university conduct a pilot project with Avon and Somerset Constabulary. The pilot research found that more than half of officers surveyed were considering leaving the service.

In the poll, of 1,400 rank-and-file officers, 94 per cent said they were “dissatisfied” or “strongly dissatisfied” with the Winsor review, which has led to a £4,000-cut in officer starting salaries, the abolition of competence related threshold payments and the introduction of direct entry.

It also found that 95 per cent of survey respondents did not have confidence in long-term government plans for the police.

South Yorkshire Police Federation has said that the survey is being disseminated through various channels and stressed that officers should only fill out the survey once.

http://go.uwe.ac.uk/police-survey-2013