Cambridgeshire Police Federation members are being encouraged to have their say on policing during the pandemic in an important new survey.
The Demand, Capacity and Welfare Survey, being carried out by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), provides members with the chance to help shape Federation policy on a range of issues and describe how they’ve been impacted, including policing the Covid-19 crisis.
Cambridgeshire branch chair Liz Groom said: “It’s important we get a clear picture of how our members feel about policing during the pandemic and how they’ve been impacted.
“This survey also builds on previous Demand, Capacity and Welfare Surveys and will identify trends that we can then help to address with police leaders.
“It’s a really important survey and will enable us as a Federation to spell out to the government and the Home Office the issues that are affecting officers.
“Please take the time to have your say.”
It’s the third Federation Demand, Capacity and Welfare Survey and aims to give an accurate assessment of the challenges facing policing.
As well as questions around the pandemic, it also examines the plan to recruit an extra 20,000 officers by 2023.
The last Demand, Capacity and Welfare Survey in 2018 found that in Cambridgeshire the average job satisfaction rating was 3/10, 79 per cent of respondents reported frequent single crewing and 64 per cent reported never or rarely taking their full rest break entitlement.
Some 84 per cent said their workload was too high, 87 per cent there weren’t enough officers to do the job and 87 per cent indicated they had experienced difficulties with their health and wellbeing over the previous 12 months.
National Federation chair John Apter said: “I can’t tell you how important it is we get as many responses to this survey as possible. It’s important for people like me and your local Fed reps to have that information on how you felt you’ve been treated during this pandemic, not only by policing but by Government and others, so that we can take that to the leaders within policing and also to Government.”
Members who have not received a link to the 2020 survey should contact the Federation branch for further information by emailing cambridgeshire@polfed.org