“Unpleasant tasks” police bonus system defended

POLICE chiefs have defended a bonus system for officers who perform “particularly unpleasant” tasks – including dealing with dead bodies and attending difficult fatal road accidents.

ACPO said the payments recognise when the work being done can test “even the most seasoned” of officers. Steve White, from the Police Federation, said: “Officers’ remuneration should reflect the sometimes extraordinary tasks they are asked to perform.”

Figures obtained by the Mail on Sunday using the Freedom of Information Act 2000 showed some police officers and staff are paid compensation ranging from £50 to £500 for tasks including attending the scene of a car crash or murder.

Thames Valley Police, for instance, expects to pay out £1,000 in the current financial year for workers who have to handle corpses, and £45,000 to officers and teams who carry out demanding or important work as well as unpleasant tasks, the newspaper claimed.

The paper added that Dorset Police said it paid out about £2,000 for unpleasant work last year while Gwent Police spent £1,900, including three payments of £100 to officers who had to recover bodies. South Yorkshire Police paid out £2,700 in 2011-12 for unpleasant work.

The most detailed breakdown came from Hertfordshire Constabulary, which paid out £2,050 last year for ‘exceptionally unpleasant’ work ‘over and above’ normal duties.

One PC, the paper said, received £250 for ‘body retrieved from river which had been there for some time’, while a colleague got £200 when they ‘attended murder/suicide scene and assisted with the removal of the bodies’.

Two officers shared £400 to deal with ‘male hit by train – body dismembered’ and a sergeant got £200 when they were ‘witness to man who shot himself in chest and then assisted medical staff in extreme circumstances’.

ACPO’S national policing lead for recognition and reward, Thames Valley’s Deputy Chief Constable Francis Habgood, said: “Even within policing there are some tasks we have to do which are particularly outstanding in their nature and which even the most experienced of police officers can find emotionally draining and challenging.

“There is a small proportion of such cases, but even the most seasoned of officers deserve some recognition for particularly unpleasant tasks, tasks which can include for instance; searching a decomposing body or removing fatalities from a particularly distressing scene.

“These bonuses are not designed to reward officers for merely doing their day-to-day jobs, but to recognise when the task at hand can try even the toughest emotional and professional resolve.”

Mr White added: “While police officers are expected to undertake a wide range of work as part of their day-to-day responsibilities they are occasionally required to perform tasks which are particularly unpleasant.

“Chief officers have the discretion to recognise such work with what is often a very modest payment and officers who have carried out such duties are entitled to this recognition.”