Police officers are still not getting enough sleep \u2013 and they need to feel rested to do a good job and stay safe, South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.<\/p>\n
Figures from the National Police Wellbeing Service show 45% of police officers report sleeping less than six hours per night very often or all of the time. Shift workers indicated more frequently experiencing poor rest \u2013 with 27% of police officers reporting disturbed sleep.<\/p>\n
Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cThis is really important. We do six on, four off in South Yorkshire and there is absolutely no doubt, from experience and observation, that people feel more well rested when they do a different shift pattern than four on, four off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to potentially review that again because cops are not getting the sleep that they need \u2013 especially our detectives.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a serious job, a murder investigation or similar, they will come back to work with a couple of hours in-between.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do that willingly, because they want to do a good job and they want to do their best. But you\u2019ve got to really, really think of the long-term effects that lack of sleep can have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be more of a drive to actually start looking at things, because coupled with the absolute time-bomb explosion of mental wellbeing in policing, this is a really serious issue.\u201d<\/p>\n