Police officers\u2019 welfare needs to be prioritised to ensure that they aren\u2019t dangerously fatigued when working shifts, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent was speaking after a survey carried out in the Yorkshire and Humber region found that over half (51.9%) of officers and staff who responded had been involved in a \u2018near miss\u2019 incident, such as a kerb strike, lane departure or almost had a collision.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cThere\u2019s no simple answer to this, other than the fact that we\u2019ve got to be really careful about how many hours we expect our colleagues to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur officers who are working nights and long hours are at risk of this, but we\u2019ve also got some senior officers who are doing really long hours throughout the week, and they\u2019ve also got to think about their drive home. There\u2019s got to be some element of care there in terms of how many hours they\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that the Federation needs to educate people better on, in terms of fatigue and working time regulations. We need to make sure that our officers are well rested and not doing silly hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve added he realised that some officers were currently relying on overtime, as police pay was not enough for them to be able to support themselves and their families. But he said: \u201cThere has to be a balance here, and officers have got to be in a fit state to drive home. This is all down to resourcing, whether we\u2019ve got the systems in place to support officers who are tired. There needs to be this fundamental change and shift in the way we look at the welfare of our officers.\u201d<\/p>\n