POLICING demand has returned to normal after Covid-19 lockdown with officers being \u201crun ragged\u201d and pulled from \u201cpillar to post\u201d, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Officers are facing business as usual, on top of new demands, such as enforcing the wearing of face masks and post-travel quarantine rules.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent, Federation Chairman, said: \u201cDemand is back to normal – or even beyond normal. We\u2019ve got summertime demand, we\u2019re seeing quite a lot of high profile public order matters happening in Sheffield especially and across the force, and officers are generally being pulled from pillar to post.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith face masks, our force have said they will not deploy officers unless it\u2019s an absolute last resort, but you\u2019ve still got the calls coming in which is tying up our comms staff, which is having a knock-on effect to every other department in the force. So it\u2019s challenging at the minute. Officers are getting run ragged. It\u2019s challenging times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said he has been reassured by the force\u2019s stance on face mask enforcement, as \u201cwe just haven\u2019t got the resources to do it when we\u2019re creaking at the seams.\u201d The force is also looking into the police\u2019s role in quarantine enforcement, although Steve said a \u201cpragmatic approach is being taken\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThe force are absolutely firmly focusing on the core police functions that we\u2019ve got and not allowing us to get distracted by that. It\u2019s just the expectation from the public, as if we\u2019re going to be knocking on people\u2019s doors. I just don\u2019t know where that\u2019s come from.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officers who are expected to quarantine as they come back from holidays in Spain in the coming days are being allowed to work from home, although officers who choose to go on holiday after the rules changed may not be on such firm ground as they are going against Government travel advice. Officers are being advised to stay in touch with the force and their holiday insurers before they fly.<\/p>\n