SHIFT patterns in South Yorkshire Police may be helping to buck a national trend in custody policing.<\/p>\n
According to a recent PFEW survey, the job is seen as the \u2018worst in policing\u2019 with nearly a quarter of all custody officers saying they want to be redeployed away from detention duties as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
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That figure is up from the 19% who said they wanted to quit the role last year.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent says it\u2019s something he will be bringing up with his colleagues in the role, but he\u2019s hopeful that the South Yorkshire force\u2019s working hours and shift patterns are having a positive impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had a look at the survey\u2019s findings and it obviously it\u2019s really concerning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019m going to ask our custody colleagues about at the first opportunity, but I do believe, on the flip side of that, that in our force the working hours and the shift pattern has made at least a marginal positive effect on the work\/life balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do four on and four off in custody, certainly in Sheffield and in Doncaster too I think, and that proves quite popular. So, there are obviously issues with workload and stress and demand in custody because I\u2019ve been there myself when we can be queueing with six or seven prisoners and it\u2019s an absolute nightmare in there for them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know last time they were over-subscribed for people wanting to go into custody and my friends who have gone into custody have said it\u2019s actually okay. It\u2019s hard work but it\u2019s okay,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Steve thinks that shift patterns could be a key reason why morale is so low in custody suites across the country<\/p>\n
\u201cI need to go in there and understand what the issues are more in terms of the working practices, which I won\u2019t be as aware of as a frontline cop who\u2019s not been on the other side of the desk.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I go and speak to ten custody officers, six of them might say, \u2018No, I\u2019m totally gutted\u2019, and it might reflect what it says in the custody survey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen I\u2019ll have a bit more of an understanding as to what it is that\u2019s obviously a problem for them, but I think if they were at least to review working hours across the country, I think that could have the positive effect that we\u2019ve seen in our force.\u201d<\/p>\n