OFFICERS at the Police Service of Northern Ireland were attacked 740 times last year, the force\u2019s Federation said.<\/p>\n
Morale is plummeting as a result of the attacks that amount to more than 10% of officers being assaulted on duty, according to Mark Lindsay, Federation Chairman.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWe are the only public service that is required to put ourselves in harm\u2019s way, and has to endure this level of abuse.”<\/p>\n
He told his annual conference: \u201cOur interventions to protect people often lead to our officers being hospitalised. That means debilitating injuries such as fractures, involving long recovery times, or a psychological illness that requires long-term treatment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no real appreciation of the knock-on effects assaults and injuries have on our men and women. There is a clear risk in doing the job, but that seems to be overlooked.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his first speech to the annual conference as Chairman, Mr Lindsay said: \u201cSickness levels make banner headlines, but what they don\u2019t tell us is the extent of injuries or illnesses, or the de-motivational impact they have on the individual. Morale is low, and getting lower.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chairman called on the Senior Command Team to acknowledge the pressures officers endure, and how lives are \u201cturned upside down\u201d because of illnesses and injuries, \u201csustained directly as a result of protecting society\u201d.<\/p>\n
The force is currently overhauling its sickness management system, but the Federation called on Chief Constable George Hamilton to make sure changes were not made at the expense of his officers\u2019 health and well-being.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe\u2019re not desk-bound civil servants in government departments. Chief Constable, put your officers first before implementing efficiency strategies that fail to acknowledge the simple facts of policing this society.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chairman also revealed how officers in a stretched and morale-battered PSNI are owed more than 33,000 rest days.<\/p>\n
Mr Lindsay said that despite their goodwill, officers would find it increasingly difficult to deliver the service the community had a right to expect.<\/p>\n
Mr Lindsay said: \u201c33,091 Modified Rest Days tells its own story of a service extended to the limit; of a service that needs help; of men and women who have an undeniable commitment to the job.<\/p>\n
\u201c33,091 days represent a level of goodwill unequalled anywhere in the public sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
OFFICERS at the Police Service of Northern Ireland were attacked 740 times last year, the force\u2019s Federation said. Morale is plummeting as a result of the attacks that amount to\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2021"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2026,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions\/2026"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}