South Yorkshire Police is still suffering from the effects of austerity, and the Government \u2018uplift\u2019 in numbers is not truly an uplift, the Federation Chair has said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the Chair of the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council recently told The Guardian<\/em> that, nationally, 6,000 officers were filling gaps caused by police staff jobs cut during the austerity years.<\/p>\n South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cAs a force, we are still not at the numbers we were at in 2010 \u2013\u00a0we\u2019re are still 10-15% down. So what\u2019s being called an \u2018uplift\u2019 is not really an uplift.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing as a force at the moment is trying to get cops to where they are desperately needed first. We\u2019ve got to prioritise protecting vulnerable people and protecting the frontline in terms of response.<\/p>\n \u201cBut that means that we\u2019re in a bad position, where our officers are struggling to progress or develop within their careers. There are officers who want to go into different departments. Our traffic department, for example, is suffering in terms of numbers. I can understand, holistically, why this is happening. But it\u2019s hugely frustrating for officers.\u201d<\/p>\n