An \u201cunbelievable naivety\u201d has led to police forces shedding experienced officers and relying on new recruits, South Yorkshire Police Federation is warning.<\/p>\n
Federation Chair Steve Kent said huge numbers of officers were talking about leaving the profession due to unworkable conditions.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWith the greatest of respects, replacing seasoned cops with new recruits is not going to help anybody for a couple of years until those new recruits come in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concerns have been raised that more inexperienced officers are being promoted to fill roles vacated by police who have had enough.<\/p>\n
But the knock-on effect of this has been a lack of experienced role models for new recruits to learn from.<\/p>\n
Steve said better pay, more time to do the job and enhanced opportunities to recover from stressful incidents would all help with retention.<\/p>\n
He said there had been an \u201cunbelievable naivety and lack of awareness\u201d of what was happening on the ground.<\/p>\n
Steve added: \u201cI am talking to cops who are only ten years off retirement and they\u2019re going to go.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s big because that\u2019s never happened before, when you\u2019re that close to retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n