“Stop making police officers feel like second class citizens”

THE Government needs to “stop attacking police officers and making them feel like second class citizens”, the Chairman of Essex Police Federation has said.

Mark Smith (pictured) said “it’s very easy to destroy the police service, it’s very, very hard to rebuild. And it’s the same with morale and the way officers feel.”

He was responding to a national Federation survey on morale.

“Morale in Essex is extremely low,” said Mr Smith. “It’s a hard job to do at the moment. I wouldn’t recommend anybody to do it at this time.

“People are considering going in to different jobs, I can’t blame them, when we see the way that officers are being treated.

“They’re not getting pay rises whereas there’s now movement again in the private sector with pay rises. But all of this really, I think, falls into what the government want, and what the Government want is not to actually have to pay pensions.

“And if people are coming in to the police and not staying for very long then they won’t be having to pay pensions and I think that’s exactly what the Government want.”

So what does Mr Smith think can be done to improve morale?

“Stop attacking police officers! Stop making them feel like second class citizens. They’re out there trying to look after the public, do the best job they can and we’re forever being attacked by the Government.

“Give us a decent pay rise. Maybe put some funding back into policing so officers aren’t out there with no back up. So officers are getting their rest days. Officers are able to take annual leave, which they’re not able to at this time.

“It’s very easy to destroy the police service, it’s very, very hard to rebuild. And it’s the same with morale and the way officers feel.

“You keep putting them down, it gets to the point where it’s very, very difficult to then start bringing them back up.”

More than 32,500 police officers took part in a survey by the Police Federation of England and Wales, with 76.3% saying they would not recommend policing as a career.

The national poll also showed that more than 15% of respondents were planning to leave the service within the next two years.

Officers told the Police Federation of England and Wales survey that low morale and the impact of the job on their health and personal or family life were all major factors in their decision to leave.

Over 95% of the 15.6% of officers who said they were planning to leave also cited ‘how the police as a whole are treated’ as having either some or a major effect on their decision.