Darren Harris said pay and conditions, time demands and a feeling of being under-appreciated were among the reasons officers were leaving or thinking of leaving the profession.

And he said a recruitment drive in Australia to encourage officers to move to the other side of the world was adding to the issue.

Darren said: “Retention is something the Federation has highlighted before, but officers leaving the profession is becoming a real concern issue.

“Many of our members say they feel overworked and, at the same time, under-appreciated for that work.

“They’ve had their wages cut in real terms over the past 13 years, the service has been underfunded, under-resourced and understaffed, so it’s not really a surprise that some are deciding to look elsewhere.”

Darren’s comments came as it was revealed 1,400 serving UK police officers have applied for jobs in Western Australia following a recruitment drive.

A sunny beach in Australia.

“Luring skilled officers to Australia is only adding to the problem and highlighting the issues around pay and conditions facing our members,” he said.

Home Office data released earlier this year revealed a total of 4,575 officers resigned between April 2022 and March 2023, the highest number since comparable records began 16 years ago.

The data showed that 67 officers resigned from Suffolk Police in the 12 months to March. A further four retired on medical grounds during the same period and 35 took retirement. Some 13 officers transferred to other forces while one was dismissed, taking the total number of departures for the year to 120.

Suffolk Police had a total of 1,399 officers as of March 31, following the Government’s Police Uplift Programme.

The Force was told to take on an extra 179 officers when the programme was launched in 2019 but exceeded that figure by 22 by bringing in a total of 201 new recruits.

Darren said: “We have a relatively young workforce and the loss of experienced officers and trained officers could affect the learning and development of our newer recruits.

“We need to be doing everything possible to retain our trained, experienced officers,” he added.

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