22 October 2020

Pandemic Has Increased Fatigue In Officers

“It’s quite evident that the pandemic has increased demand on the front line and it’s concerning that we’ve got officers who are fatigued.”

This is the view of Anna Harvey, Chair of Dorset Police Federation, in response to Oscar Kilo’s Service Director, Chief Constable Andy Rhodes’ warning that fatigue is a growing issue in policing.

In June, a survey carried out by Oscar Kilo and the College of Policing revealed that 45% of police officers frequently reported having less than six hours’ sleep and that shift workers were more likely to experience poor sleep quality and lower levels of emotional energy.

Anna said: “It’s quite evident that the pandemic has increased demand on the front line and it’s concerning that we’ve got officers who are fatigued. That’s affecting their mental health and they’re going to more and more traumatic incidents, which is having a real effect on them. We are seeing more cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other psychological problems.

“COVID-19 has definitely exacerbated this, as we are all human beings, we’re all worrying about vulnerable people in our family, people we have caring responsibilities for. It’s another level of anxiety. And we have the added situation where some people have decided to use COVID-19 as a weapon against us.”

Dorset Police Federation’s Secretary Ian Roe said: “I think there needs to be a review and clarity around what the role of the police is. The police still do a lot of work that should be done by other services, which are also hit because of previous cuts.

“We’ve got fewer officers, we haven’t got less demand. The reality is a lot of our officers are having to do a lot of overtime and that adds to their fatigue levels. They’re not getting their rest periods.”

Meanwhile CC Andy Rhodes warned against it becoming the accepted norm that officers were constantly exhausted.

He said: "I believe fatigue is the next big thing after mental health issues and we need to reduce the stigma about fatigue as it is kind of accepted that everyone is exhausted."