Officers are becoming reluctant to use appropriate force due to fear of repercussions, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
The head of the Police Superintendents\u2019 Association in England and Wales, Nick Smart, recently told The Telegraph that police officers fear they are gambling with their career when they use force to tackle criminals. He said his colleagues had so little faith in the misconduct system that they were losing confidence on the streets.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent agreed with Nick\u2019s assessment, saying: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen recent high-profile cases elsewhere in the country where officers have been sanctioned for using force in quite understandable circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s two aspects to this. The first aspect is that officers are reluctant to use force because they\u2019re worried about the consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve seen the high-profile cases and they\u2019ve got no faith in the system, they\u2019ve got little faith in the IOPC, they\u2019ve got little faith in the legislation that protects them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second aspect is that this means officers are more likely to be assaulted, because they\u2019re not going into situations being confident about using the full amount of force that they need to. That leaves them exposed to getting assaulted.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers need to be decisive and firm, although of course it must be a proportionate use of force.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve added: \u201cThere is a small ray of light in that some recent cases have opened the public\u2019s eyes to the wider issues about police force.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we need to see the Government and the press supporting our officers in being robust, which, let\u2019s be fair, 99.9% of the public would expect us to be.\u201d<\/p>\n