NEW specialist officers for South Yorkshire Police will help deter crime says South Yorkshire Police Federation.<\/p>\n
Specialist firearms officers, specialist investigators and dog handlers are being recruited to form a 92 strong unit.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent said the extra bodies will really help on the frontline.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is in addition to the regular officers that the Chief is wanting to recruit as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese specialist officers will come from department so our officers can be released into the specialist roles from the recruitment drive that we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI completely welcome it. With the firearms officers, firearms incidents are on the rise, so that is welcome.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think extra dog handlers and specialist investigators is an absolute no brainer. Frontline cops particularly, we\u2019ve had occasions where we\u2019ve had one dog officer for the whole force. This increase in dog handler numbers will mean that there could be a least a part return to when there were dog handlers locally available for each shift,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge benefit in terms of tracking offenders and obviously as a deterrent as well, when we\u2019re dealing with people fighting.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good news and it\u2019s a sign of, hopefully, an improvement to come.\u201d<\/p>\n