“If officers don’t get the amount of rest they need to do their job, mistakes get made, stress levels go up, and we ultimately end up with a higher level of sickness within policing.”

Cleveland Police Federation Chair Paul Crowley was commenting on the fact that many officers weren’t getting enough rest between shifts, as a new fatigue toolkit is launched to help officers get a healthy amount of sleep.

The last National Police Wellbeing Survey found that 45% of officers were getting fewer than six hours’ sleep a night. Nearly 70% of respondents said they had high levels of fatigue, and 28.9% reported ‘very high levels’ of fatigue.

Fatigue affects work performance, increases the risk of accidents and injuries, and impacts people’s long-term health. That’s why Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS), has launched a new online Fatigue Risk Management Toolkit that can be used to develop a force fatigue risk policy, or simply when dealing with the challenges around sleepiness and fatigue in policing. It includes sections on the factors that lead to fatigue, spotting the signs of fatigue, achieving healthy sleep practices, and links to training.

Paul said: “Rest is important in life, not just professionally but from a personal perspective as well. If officers don’t get the amount of rest they need to do their job, mistakes get made, stress levels go up, and we ultimately end up with a higher level of sickness within policing.

“That has a knock-on effect not just for the officers who remain, but for the communities as well. We need to make sure that officers are receiving the rest breaks that they’re entitled to.

“Officers should be receiving a minimum of 11 hours between their shifts, but a lot of police officers are having to work overtime just to meet the demands of the community, which is having a knock-on effect with sleep depravation and personal responsibilities.

“I think it’s a great idea from Oscar Kilo that we should be prioritising these key points of sleep and respite, and I fully welcome that it’s been recognised and brought to the forefront.”