There needs to be a \u201croot-and-branch review into policing\u201d, including funding, duties, mental health and performance culture, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
With PCC elections \u2013\u00a0and most likely a general election \u2013\u00a0in 2024, it\u2019s time for politicians to support policing, said Federation Chair Steve Kent.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cThere needs to be a fundamental, root-and-branch review into policing. There needs to be a real shift in the way that police forces are funded. It needs to be recognised that areas with higher levels of poverty need to be funded more than areas that don\u2019t have high poverty. At the moment, it\u2019s a farce.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe also need to see an examination into, holistically, what we do, because at the minute we are being set up to fail. There also needs to be a look at the mental health crisis that\u2019s emerging in policing, and we need to look at the pay crisis that\u2019s still going on \u2013 officers are vastly underpaid compared to our colleagues in other G7 countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Performance targets were also a major problem in policing, Steve said, stating that he \u201cfundamentally disagrees\u201d with them.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cPerformance targets do not work well with the independence of the office of Constable. You\u2019ve got officers across the country under pressure to fulfil targets, when that\u2019s not what it should be about. There should be one target in policing, and one target alone, and that should just be victim satisfaction.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf victims are satisfied with what the police have done, it shouldn\u2019t matter if that\u2019s been via an arrest, via a stop and search or anything else. The performance obsession within policing is totally unhealthy, and it\u2019s driven by the Government and HMIC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing about British policing that is absolutely brilliant and head and shoulders above everybody else is that each PC acts under their own discretion and is empowered to use their own judgement. Targets skew that and create a risk to our officers, in my view.\u201d<\/p>\n