Brexit Uncertainty Makes Force Planning Difficult

UNCERTAINTY around Brexit is making planning difficult for Essex Police and will mean officers have to be flexible, Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor has said.

Currently, the UK is due to leave the European Union by the end of October and uncertainty about the landscape after this has made an already complex planning issue more difficult for the force.

Steve said: “The uncertainty means it’s very difficult to plan for and make allowances for. As we’ve seen, the flexibility required with the recent protests in London and the mutual aid we were asked to provide for that, business as usual is always going on.

“So in Essex we’ll take it in our stride and be as ready as we can be for something that’s unpredictable.”

Essex officers have so far not had the same annual leave restrictions placed on them as colleagues in other forces, although some officers have volunteered for duty in other parts of the country.

Steve added: “We were quite lucky in Essex in as much as we didn’t have a leave embargo placed on us, which we’re grateful for and that’s turned out to be the right decision.

“Leave has continued unabated, and there’s nothing to suggest that won’t continue in October as well.

“Some officers have volunteered for overtime in other parts of the country. That has all been done voluntarily and people have been told about those conditions before they’ve gone into that.

“That seems to have worked quite well. There’s nothing to suggest that it won’t continue to work well going forward, as and when we get around to making those decisions.”