Over half of Wiltshire Police officers say morale is low
The Police Federation says a new survey show officers feel 'unappreciated'
The Pay and Morale Survey has been taken by more than 25,000 police officers around the country between July and September this year, including 242 from Wiltshire.
The Wiltshire results found over half of those who responded (56%) said they thought morale was low within the force.
Almost two thirds (63%) also said they were dissatisfied with their pay, with 5% reporting never or almost never having enough money to cover their essentials.
Mark Andrews, Chairman of Wiltshire Police Federation, said:
"Police officers' morale is low because we feel unappreciated by a Government who see us as an easy target for wage cuts; we are tired of being assaulted and unsupported by the courts and we are sick of being painted as the enemy when we try to deal with the confusion brought about when enforcing Government legislation."
Mr Andrews, from the Wiltshire Police Federation, also says the survey should be a chance to make improvements:
"My Chief Constable is likely to point out our figures are improving and that we are consistently better than most others in the country. I don't think there is much to jump up and down about when 40% of the officers responding had low morale and over 56% feel morale in the force is low. I hope the Chief Constable and Police and Crime Commissioner see this as an opportunity to work even harder with us to improve these numbers even more over the coming year.
"I understand there are many out there at the moment who are struggling and some will think we are lucky to have a job at all. This may be the case, but we should be valued for the work we do and not suffer financial hardship, as 31% of our officers do, for choosing to take on a career of helping people.
"The Government needs to recognise that any of our police officers are low paid and the bulk of us have had a real terms pay cut of 18% during austerity. Now is not the time when we are trying to attract people to the job to freeze our pay as this will merely drive good police officers away, effectively demonstrated by the 6% already planning to leave soon."
CONCERNS ABOUT PPE
The survey asked police officers what they thought about the personal protective equipment they'd been provided with during the Covid-19 crisis to.
30% of the Wiltshire officers who responded said that they've not had access to adequate PPE.
Mark Andrews said:
"It is not surprising our officers have raised concerns around how things have gone during the Covid-19 crisis. I have received many reports of colleagues saying how they feel less prepared than their NHS colleagues and ambulance crews when dealing with people suspected to have Covid.
"The perception is their kit is not as adequate and therefore they are not as valued. I continue to work on this with the force to ensure all of our officers have everything they need along with the training to use it to keep them safe."
WILTSHIRE POLICE RESPONSE
A joint statement's been released by the Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police, Kier Pritchard and the county's Police and Crime Commissioner, Angus Macpherson - they said:
"Whilst the report is focused on officers it is important to recognise that the policing family is made up of officers, staff and volunteers - all of whom have been impacted by the challenges of responding to an unprecedented national crisis alongside busy day-to-day roles keeping our public safe and protecting communities. We are incredibly proud of the efforts of all those who work within the Force and particularly our frontline officers and staff who put themselves in harm's way to protect others.
"It is reassuring to see that we are making good progress and in a number of areas Wiltshire Police is significantly outperforming the national average, in particular with regards to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Throughout our response to the current pandemic we have committed to ensuring that our officers on the frontline have the information, training and equipment needed to respond to the challenges in front of them, keeping themselves and the public safe. It has been pleasing to see this play out in some of the feedback received but there is always more we can do and we are determined not to rest on our laurels.
"However, of particular concern is the impact on morale of how it is felt by officers the police service as a whole is treated. We continue to see horrific instances where our officers and staff are assaulted and abused simply for going about their duties. This is completely unacceptable and something that we have been striving to tackle through a package of measures including enhanced training and protective equipment, wellbeing and support for those affected and personalised impact statements for the courts to help ensure that the strongest possible sentences are given to those who assault our officers and staff.
"We are committed to continuing to work closely with and listen to the views of all those who work and volunteer with us and we will also continue to nurture our valuable relationships with our staff associations, such as the Police Federation, to keep making improvements so that we attract, retain and develop the very best people we can in to a career in policing. We continue to make strong progress in attracting new police officers to the Force as part of the national Uplift programme to recruit an additional 20,000 officers over a three-year period."