Unforgiving workloads, poor pay and vulnerability to assaults have created the perfect storm for police officers leaving the profession, South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.<\/p>\n
Chair Steve Kent said it was \u201cabsolute common sense\u201d that challenging conditions were having a real impact on people\u2019s careers.<\/p>\n
It followed statistics revealing that 80% of serious assaults on officers happen within their first five years of service, which were revealed by Andy Rhodes, Service Director of Oscar Kilo, at the Superintendents\u2019 Association Conference in September.<\/p>\n
More than five assaults were carried out on cops in England and Wales every hour of the day, the data showed.<\/p>\n
Steve said South Yorkshire Police Federation had various reports of people being punched, spat at and suffering nasty injuries every day.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhen you add it all together, including the stresses of the job, the pressures that they\u2019re under\u2026 then people probably do think \u2018What\u2019s the point of this?\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoupled with the fact the pay isn\u2019t exactly amazing, they\u2019ll triple it up and think, \u2018Why do I bother?\u2019.<\/p>\n
Steve said he believed the high pressure of the job was still the primary cause for officers leaving their roles.<\/p>\n
However, he said being assaulted ran a close second as a reason for resignation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s absolute common sense that this is going to have an impact, and it does,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
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