Demoralised officers threatening to quit West Mercia Police

Responding to a survey, a massive 84 per cent of members of the rank and file West Mercia Police Federation felt that morale in the force was low, up from 76 per cent.

And more than half (55 per cent) say their personal morale was currently low, up from 48 per cent on the previous year.

Sarah Cooper who chairs the regional police federation, said: “Policing has become an utterly thankless profession with little recognition for the selfless, professional and compassionate work that my colleagues are doing day in, day out.

"Times are desperate, and pay and morale are key to ensuring that officers are able to continue to deliver an effective policing service.

"Officers need to feel valued and be recognised and remunerated for the unique role they carry out in society.”

Even worse, one in every 10 officers said they intended to leave the service within the next two years, and shockingly 12 per cent of officers from the force - which covers Shropshire, Herefordshire, and North and South Worcestershire - said they don’t have enough money to cover the basic cost of living.

The survey also revealed that almost two out of five West Mercia respondents (39 per cent) worried about the state of their personal finances every day or almost every day, while 72 per cent of officers felt financially worse off than five years ago.

Ms Cooper added: “These figures reveal the pressures that officers are under. The demands that are placed on my colleagues are unprecedented.

"They’ve been on the frontline of policing the pandemic, they are under relentless criticism from the media with absolutely no acknowledgement of the thousands of officers responding to calls for help from the public and protecting people from harm 24/7.

“My colleagues put themselves in harm’s way to serve the communities of West Mercia every day and our members are constantly expected to step in where other underfunded agencies fail, so the constant criticism and contempt shown to the police by this Government is soul destroying."

She added that the force in West Mercia is under resourced on the frontline, suffers wholly inadequate IT systems. She said there was a lack of training and officers were struggling with the current entry routes into the police, with the demands these place on them.

“Individuals consistently tell me that they joined the police to serve the public not to obtain academic qualifications, yet we seem to have completely lost sight of the importance and value of life experience and the personal qualities that are so important to delivering that service," added Ms Cooper.

“The time for lip service is over. We need to see a real commitment to improving the morale and conditions that officers are expected to work under. We are all here to do the job we signed up for, to serve the public to the best of our ability, but officers are being expected to do it with one hand tied behind their back."

Other findings included 78 per cent being dissatisfied with their overall pay and allowances, and 68 per cent said that they would not recommend joining the police to others.

Ten per cent said they had an intention to leave the police service either within the next two years or as soon as possible.

West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion said he wanted to hold the force to account for officer numbers.

He said: “As PCC I am committed to backing West Mercia Police with the tools and resources they need to keep us safe, which includes increasing officer numbers to the highest since 2009.

"I will continue to hold the force to account for delivering the benefit of those increased resources including officer health and wellbeing.

"I know the communities of Shropshire overwhelmingly support the work of West Mercia Police, and I will ensure that translates so the hard work of the brave men and women who stand on the thin blue line is recognised.

“I started the Behind the Badge campaign in 2016 to encourage communities to look beyond the uniform, and recognise them as humans who deserves to be valued and respected by the communities they serve.”

Deputy chief constable Julian Moss said: "The past couple of years have been hard for policing and the public sector.

"The health and wellbeing of all members of our workforce is very important to us and we welcome feedback so if anything is wrong we can take steps to resolve it.

“We encourage open and honest discussions with our employees about health, safety and wellbeing, and we work closely with our staff associations, Police Federation and Unison, who provide regular feedback and act as a critical friend to highlight concerns at both individual and organisational level.

"As a result of our own surveys we have already started to put further initiatives in place to help improve morale and wellbeing throughout the force.”