NEARLY 2,500 officers quit policing last year, in many cases to get better paid, less stressful jobs.<\/p>\n
The figures also revealed that many experienced officers had decided to turn in their uniforms and leave, despite being close to being able to claim their pensions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Essex Police Federation said pension uncertainty and the stresses and strains the job put them under were likely factors behind the figures.<\/p>\n
Chairman Steve Taylor said: \u201cI think stress and strain will play a part and having to do more with less will inflict a cost.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I don\u2019t think you can underestimate pension uncertainty as well. There\u2019s a [legal] challenge underway and I think it\u2019s quite a common view that the net result of that challenge will be the removal of tapering [protection for officers], which is going to directly affect officers at that stage in their careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps they\u2019re simply not prepared to run the risk of that happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exodus is leaving a gap in experience in the force, something which can\u2019t readily be replaced with new recruits, Steve added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe skills, the experience spread is something that the force, I think because we\u2019re making the arguments, are becoming increasingly aware of.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all well and good having bums on seats but if there is not much experience around, then your ability to learn, your ability to see good examples going on around you are reduced.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t me criticising the average age of the frontline. If all our experience and our skill in terms of length of service for example migrates onto specialisms or, indeed, retires, then those left behind, a criticism they could face is the blind leading the blind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t say that to be derogatory, but I think that migration of skills is of concern.\u201d<\/p>\n
Resolving pension uncertainty and confusion is not something in most force\u2019s powers either.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be very surprised and disappointed if the job wasn\u2019t looking to explore that individually with these officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, ultimately, if it is a financial decision, the force\u2019s ability to offer any reassurance around pensions is non-existent. If it\u2019s a demand, if it\u2019s a capacity question, ie \u2018it\u2019s changed so much I no longer enjoy what I\u2019m doing\u2019, again what levers can the force pull to alleviate those concerns?<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should all be worried but at the same time I don\u2019t know what the solution is. It\u2019s all down to individual decisions by those officers who are leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEARLY 2,500 officers quit policing last year, in many cases to get better paid, less stressful jobs. The figures also revealed that many experienced officers had decided to turn in\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":184,"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\/6668"}],"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=6668"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6749,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6668\/revisions\/6749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}