POLICING demand cannot be reduced without the introduction of legal protections for police officers, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent was speaking to coincide with the upcoming release of The Strategic Review of Policing in England and Wales, Led by Sir Michael Barber, which is examining the ability of the police to respond to crime.<\/p>\n
Sir Michael has warned that officers are being \u2018distracted by social problems\u2019, as he highlighted the large amount of time officers are spending investigating missing person reports.<\/p>\n
But Steve said: \u201cShould we be the primary resource dealing with mental health? Absolutely not. Should we be the primary resource backing up the NHS because they are completely cut to the bone and don\u2019t have the resources? No, we shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we are in an impossible position. They can come out with this all they like. Are they are going to deal with all the other public services and give them the resources they need or make it clear legislatively that we have no duty of care?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all very well them coming out and making these comments, but they need to back it up with legal protections.<\/p>\n
\u201cKit Malthouse, with the greatest of respect, won\u2019t be standing in front of the Independent Office for Police Conduct saying, \u2018Well it\u2019s okay, I\u2019ve told our officers not to go to this job\u2019, when somebody has taken their own life because the police haven\u2019t turned up when they\u2019ve been requested to by the NHS.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officers risk being disciplined if they did not turn up to medical incidents when things have gone wrong, Steve said.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIf they want us to deal with crime and they want us to deal with keeping law and order and not being essentially the reserve for the NHS, reserve social services, and the reserve fire brigade, they\u2019ve actually got to give us the legal protection to say \u2018no\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil that\u2019s the case, this is completely hot air and it\u2019s pointless.\u201d<\/p>\n