THE \u2018pressure cooker\u2019 environment officers work in is enough to make many of them leave the force for good, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Worrying new figures show nearly 2,400 officers left the role last year, the highest number since 2015.<\/p>\n
PFEW leaders want the Government to do more to retain officers already in the job as well as getting new recruits on board.<\/p>\n
With everything that the modern officer has to deal with, burn out, stress, anxiety and just reaching the end of their tether means the job can understandably be too much to bear says South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe pressure cooker of policing is having its effect now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see officers burned out and reaching the end of their tether and looking for alternative employment when it\u2019s available because they simply can\u2019t cope with the sheer stress and workload that they\u2019re under.<\/p>\n
“It was inevitable from the years of cuts and I think we\u2019re seeing the result of it. We need to see the 700 extra cops in South Yorkshire landing, and we also need continual investment in policing to allow police officers actually to do their job without buckling under the pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, that\u2019s the prime reasons people are upping sticks and leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Demand, salaries, pensions and just having enough cash each month to pay the bills are also a big worry for officers.<\/p>\n
And the difficulties that come with the job need to be matched with expectation, Steve added.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople\u2019s expectations when they join the police about being able to help the public, being able to work and have a good work\/life balance, to help victims and people who have been assaulted need to be matched in reality,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCops at the minute, especially in investigative and response policing are just coming to work and having to scrape by every day. They hit the ground running. They\u2019re literally running around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not actually able to give the full service that they\u2019d like to provide, and that\u2019s the problem which comes back to the point about resourcing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need that resourcing to come through, to make sure there\u2019s enough resilience in the force, especially a force like ours in South Yorkshire where we\u2019ve got almost the most incidents per officer, pretty much in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be a bit more resilience within the organisation so officers can do their jobs properly and see things through to the end rather than bouncing from job to job to job.\u201d<\/p>\n