\u201cWE\u2019RE not the enemy, we are just trying to keep people as safe as possible and do so in a common-sense way.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation has said officers are \u201cdamned if we do, damned if we don\u2019t\u201d as they face the pressures of policing during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
PFEW Chairman John Apter had said in a tweet that police officers are being portrayed by some as the villains during this pandemic.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cWe\u2019re damned if we do, damned if we don\u2019t. We go out there and 99.9% of officers here want to just police this with common sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rules are there to be applied, but the police do not want to be criminalising normal people who may have a slight error in judgement during this pandemic. What police officers are here to do is to enforce the people who are causing problems en masse \u2013 mass parties, that kind of thing.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we need to have the public support to recognise that we\u2019re in the middle of this as well. We\u2019re not the enemy, we are just trying to keep people as safe as possible and do so in a common-sense way. And certainly the attitude in South Yorkshire, throughout the command team, all the way down, has always been let\u2019s deal with this in a proportionate way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the majority of the public appreciate that, but sometimes we see elements of the media who spin that in a negative way.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that officers had put themselves out there in the middle of a pandemic and had made sacrifices, despite being scared for their families.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cCertainly early on in the pandemic, I got a lot of emails from officers who were scared \u2013 they were worried about what this pandemic was going to mean for them and their family. They can\u2019t stay at home, lock the door and batten down the hatches. They have to go out there and confront this head on.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo our officers are out there making as many sacrifices as anybody. We are right there at the front, and I think sometimes people lose that perspective a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan picked up on John\u2019s tweets, saying on air: \u201cI think the police have been put into an incredibly difficult position where they\u2019re told to enforce it \u2013 they get the blame. If they don\u2019t enforce it they get the blame. Whatever they do they get the blame.\u201d<\/p>\n