{"id":330348,"date":"2023-04-04T11:44:38","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T11:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sypfcopperconnection.co.uk\/?p=330348"},"modified":"2023-04-04T11:44:38","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T11:44:38","slug":"help-for-police-officer-fatigue-available","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sypfcopperconnection.co.uk\/?p=330348","title":{"rendered":"Help For Police Officer Fatigue Available"},"content":{"rendered":"

FATIGUE is an increasing problem in policing, especially since officers are working more overtime during the cost-of-living crisis, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n

The national Federation has launched a new initiative, Target Fatigue, helping officers recognise fatigue and giving them the help and resources they need to address the problem.<\/p>\n

Within the\u00a0Target Fatigue<\/a>\u00a0pages are useful, printable assets that include a \u2018do not disturb\u2019 door sign for night-shift workers and links to instructional documents that can guide on subjects from health to the law.<\/p>\n

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cFatigue is something we\u2019re looking at consistently. What we are certainly seeing, possibly more so in terms of the inspecting ranks within our organisation, is people doing wildly long hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome officers, sadly, are having to live on overtime because of the cost-of-living crisis. But it does come at a cost, in that these officers are knackered. They\u2019re extremely tired, and nobody wants officers to make a mistake behind the wheel or while dealing with a complex investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly for firearms officers, for which there are already safeguards in place, they\u2019ve got to be really careful. And as well as that, this has a massive effect on people\u2019s home lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly we hear about officers working shifts and the lack of balance is causing them to suffer from illnesses that tend to be associated with people later in life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officers need to make sure that they can take all the leave they are entitled to, Steve said, adding that there are regulations around leave that members can talk to the Federation about.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIf officers aren\u2019t able to take their leave, they need to come to us and we will put pressure on the force, because we\u2019re hearing about that in some of our districts at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would always advise officers is to get your leave requests in early. Otherwise officers find themselves with a massive amount of leave to take, but only three or four months left to take it, so it\u2019s very difficult for them to actually take it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cOfficers need to look after themselves. Our force is quite good on wellbeing, on intervention, but we\u2019re not that good about stopping cops being broken in the first place. We need to stop it at the front end, and that\u2019s only going to change with a change of the culture within policing.\u201d<\/p>\n