The results of an historic screening of officers should reassure the public, but the constant distrust of the police is disproportionate and seriously affecting morale, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
In January, the National Police Chiefs\u2019 Council (NPCC) published the results of the largest integrity screening project ever undertaken in policing, with more than 307,000 officers, staff and volunteers checked against the Police National Database. Less than 0.15% of records were referred to an appropriate authority, and a fifth of those needed no further action.<\/p>\n
This should help strengthen public trust in policing, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said, but he added that he didn\u2019t think it needed to be repeated every year as it put \u201cenormous pressure\u201d on Professional Standards and that \u201cover-scrutiny has a negative effect on officers\u2019 morale\u201d.<\/p>\n
Steve continued: \u201cThere certainly needs to be a review of this, and it may be better to repeat the survey every two or three years, because there is always the possibility that people will drop down into the cracks of association that could breed corruption within that time.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut every year would be disproportionate. I am sick and tired of this political and media rhetoric that corruption is rife in the police. It\u2019s present in every walk of life. And 99.9% of cops are really good, hardworking, honest people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know there is misogyny in policing. I know there is bad behaviour in policing. That\u2019s not acceptable, but it is absolutely the tiniest of minorities. I think that policing in South Yorkshire is lightyears ahead of some other public-sector and private-sector organisations for how we root out corruption and deal with bad behaviour. The perception at the moment is that cops are bad until proven good.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cIt\u2019s disproportionate that officers have to go through a constant anxiety of being checked and checked and checked. There\u2019s an old saying: if you\u2019ve got nothing to hide, you\u2019ve got nothing to worry about. But over-scrutiny has a negative effect on people\u2019s morale. We need to restore public trust in policing by pushing back on the media and the Government\u2019s rhetoric.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem is that the media don\u2019t want to hear the good news about policing. Some of our local media outlets have allowed me to give the view of the officers. But not many places are. I\u2019m desperately trying to get on any platform I can to steer the narrative, because at the minute there is no voice for policing and the effect on officers\u2019 morale is so damaging.\u201d<\/p>\n