SOUTH Yorkshire Police officers are pulling out all the stops to make everything work during the ever-changing coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
But South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent said officers are concerned about how to deal with people who may have COVID-19, as well as a lack of personal protective equipment.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThey\u2019re concerned about potential lack of PPE and going into situations with people without it. And also, like everybody else, unfortunately they\u2019re noticing some of the fake news out there. When I speak to officers I reassure them about the actual truths of the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think officers want to have reassurance about the PPE though. Not all PPE is effective as others, as we know, but officers want everything they possibly can have at their disposal to minimise risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just about them getting a virus that, for most officers, is likely just to be a mild case of flu. It\u2019s about the fact that if they get poorly they\u2019ve got to go off sick and isolate and then that\u2019s one less officer on the frontline. Officers don\u2019t want to have to go home and leave the burden on their colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said calls were down at the moment because people were starting to follow the Government\u2019s instructions to stay inside. However, officers are anticipating a spike in domestic incidents, and the force is paying particular attention to a possible rise in tensions between different ethnic communities.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe\u2019re taking every day as it comes and it\u2019s just going to get more difficult when people over the coming weeks start being a bit disobedient, coming out en masse and youths congregating. That\u2019s when I think the difficulties are really going to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we have the legislation to actually enforce people to stay in, I think officers will be running around trying to get everybody back into their homes when they\u2019re not following the Government\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we look at the floods that happened in South Yorkshire a couple of months ago, officers did a really unbelievable, almost super-human job. They did it without any questions, any issues whatsoever.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhatever happens with this virus, we\u2019re still here saving peoples\u2019 lives and protecting peoples\u2019 properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s when it gets to the really sharp end like this that we see the need for policing. We\u2019re still coming to work and our officers are still putting themselves at risk, day in and day out, when everybody else is locked away in their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n