Police leaders and the Government must not be \u201cdisingenuous\u201d about the amount of available police officers, according to South Yorkshire Police Federation.<\/p>\n
Chair Steve Kent said he was \u201csick of\u201d hearing senior officials talk of getting extra officers.<\/p>\n
He said officers were being made to work longer hours or come in on their days off to plug gaps created by a lack of staff.<\/p>\n
Steve warned: \u201cThis is just stretching our blue line even thinner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose officers will be pulled from other roles and then need more breaks in their normal job to come and do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve\u2019s comments came after the Government was warned there were no \u201cextra police officers\u201d to deal with the relentless demand faced by policing.<\/p>\n
Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson made the comments during a question an answer session at the Superintendents\u2019 Association conference in September.<\/p>\n
Steve said policing\u2019s response to disorder seen across the country in August showed what a well-resourced service was capable of.<\/p>\n
However, he added: \u201cBut that couldn\u2019t be maintainable forever. It took time and it took support from other forces, and it took support from other departments.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis shows that a lot of society in Britain is broken, and we now need this bolstering of policing to actually take back control and actually start to proactively deal with some of these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said he feared the situation was going to get worse before it improved, and that urgent action was crucial.<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cI understand the financial position the country\u2019s found itself in, but we can\u2019t continue to do this.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, law and order \u2013 keeping the fabric of society together \u2013 is as important as anything, including the NHS.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf society breaks down, everything breaks down. We have more people injured, we have more people hurt, we have crime through the roof.<\/p>\n
\u201cActually, this needs to be front and centre and it needs to be done as a matter of absolute urgency because policing is crumbling across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n