THE new Home Secretary has a great opportunity to \u2018turn things around\u2019 according to South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Zuleika Payne.<\/p>\n
Sajid Javid took on the post last month following the resignation of Amber Rudd.<\/p>\n
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And Zuleika says he has two options when it comes to policing; carry on with the \u2018status quo\u2019 or try to head in the right direction.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s hoping he\u2019ll choose the latter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose the question about whether he\u2019s got a difficult job on his hands or not can be looked at two ways.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can either remain as we are, in this broken dismantled state or he can do the very difficult job of trying to turn the ship around and actually head in the right direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo do the right thing by us will be to do the latter, it won\u2019t be easy, but we\u2019re at crisis point \u2013 something has to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s emerged that Mr Javid, MP for Bromsgrove, has a relative in the force, a factor which Zuleika hopes will help him understand the pressures police are under.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could be insightful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you are related to or close to someone who is in the organisation it doesn\u2019t take long to realise the harsh realities of policing and what being a police officer entails.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be encouraging if he was willing to embrace that and have those conversations with the Police Federation, in order to do business with us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to push policing in the right direction so that ultimately we don\u2019t fail the public,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n