IT’S been a year since the first Covid-19 lockdown came into force, and it’s been a challenge like no other, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
From early fears about the lack of PPE, catching the virus and potentially spreading it to their families to the sheer exhaustion of not getting the breaks they need, South Yorkshire Police Officers have been through it all.<\/p>\n
At the start of the pandemic, many officers feared they might die, given they had to be out there mixing with the public so much, yet they’ve continued to protect their communities.<\/p>\n
And with a summer of high demand on the way, lockdown won’t be easing for them until at least the autumn, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent warned.<\/p>\n
“It’s been a roller coaster,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The frustration for officers throughout Covid\u00a0is that they have been at the frontline of this, and they haven’t been able\u00a0to let up, and they’ve been almost the lightning rod for public opinion about\u00a0whether we’re dealing with stuff too harshly or too easily.<\/p>\n
“They’re\u00a0just a little bit fed up that they don’t get a break from it, and I think
\nthat’s culminated in the last couple of weeks; it’s reached a\u00a0crescendo.”<\/p>\n
It was a very serious few months for officers as the full horror of the early pandemic became clear.<\/p>\n
“Officers were scared, and I encouraged the force to get more understanding out there and more detail about the dangers of it,” Steve said.<\/p>\n
“Officers literally thought they were going to die. I had messages from\u00a0them saying that.<\/p>\n
“Thankfully, we have seen deaths\u00a0amongst officers at quite a low rate, and that’s in no way any disrespect\u00a0to\u00a0those officers who have passed away through COVID because it’s absolutely\u00a0awful.<\/p>\n
“But the things put in place have kept those deaths actually much\u00a0lower comparatively than our colleagues in the NHS.<\/p>\n
“For cops, the lockdown\u00a0release is going to be postponed until autumn at the earliest because we’re\u00a0not going to be able to do anything for that period of time.”<\/p>\n
It’s a testament to officers’ determination and the work going on behind the scenes between the Federation and the force, which has seen South Yorkshire Police with one the lowest absenteeism rates throughout the pandemic, Steve said.<\/p>\n
“As a Federation, we’ve tried to do our best, and there certainly has been loads of work\u00a0going on\u00a0behind the scenes nationally and locally.<\/p>\n
“We have meetings all the time with\u00a0the force, and we’re constantly\u00a0working with them in the background.<\/p>\n
“The force has\u00a0done an amazing job and throughout this whole\u00a0pandemic, we’ve had one of the lowest absence rates because of COVID-19.<\/p>\n
“We’ve\u00a0not been that far off normal levels throughout, give or take a few\u00a0spikes, and that is testament to our officers in terms of the way they’ve\u00a0been professional about PPE, and because\u00a0they want to be here, they want to carry on looking after the\u00a0people of South Yorkshire and their colleagues,” Steve added.<\/p>\n
“So absolutely credit because it’s due.”<\/p>\n
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