FOUR in ten police officers have admitted to using their annual leave to catch up on outstanding work.<\/p>\n
And a third of bobbies say fatigue has made it difficult to carry out their duties, the Police Federation of England and Wales\u2019 welfare, demand and capacity survey found. \u201cThis is happening too much,\u201d said Zuleika Payne, South Yorkshire Federation Chair. \u201cWe have 81% of South Yorkshire officers saying that their workload is too high.”<\/p>\n
\u201cSickness levels are on the rise, the number of police officers experiencing stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD is too high. We need more boots on the ground if we are to counter this problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cFalling officer numbers impacts upon\u00a0officer safety. And officers are carrying far too heavy a caseload. People are leaving because of the nature and the pressure of the work – and this comes down every time to low officer numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
She urged members to seek help if their mental health is suffering, either from line managers, occupational health, or their GP, and said colleagues should watch out for signs of stress among those they work with. The force can also offer help under the guise of the Well Together project and the MIND Blue Light campaign.<\/p>\n
Around a third of sickness absences can be blamed on stress, Ms Payne added. A recent snapshot study carried out by the force found that on one particular day, 137 police officers were off sick with 43 absences being due to stress-related illness.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cThese officers were suffering from stress, anxiety and burnout. And that just shows the broken state of the organisation.\u201d<\/p>\n