Mental health of West Yorkshire police officers at "crisis point"

Too many police officers in our region are tired and stressed out - and it could affect their ability to protect us.

Figures from West Yorkshire police reveal more than 6 thousand days off were owed to officers.

Calum Macleod, chairman of Police Federation in England and Wales, said cancelling rest days - the equivalent of a weekend off during a working week - was having a worrying impact on morale, mental and physical health, and the efficiency of the service.

Snapshot figures obtained by the Press Association under Freedom of Information laws show there were almost a quarter-of-a-million rest days owed to 70,000 police officers in England and Wales as of September 17 last year - the last time the country's terror alert was at critical'' following the Parsons Green terror attack, often resulting in holidays and time off being cancelled.

The figures come amid a row over police staffing levels after a key Home Office report into tackling violent crime this month failed to acknowledge officer numbers.

Mr Macleod said: I think this paints a picture of what policing is like in England and Wales at this time - policing is in crisis.

We do not have the resources at the moment to meet the demands of the public - whether that be in an event, a terrorist incident, or whether that be from a police officer's perspective of actually achieving their rest days.

It's really important that anybody has rest between their shift patterns because if that isn't happening what you tend to find is people getting fatigued very easily.

If that isn't happening and rest days are being banked, it's a dangerous situation for the public, it's a dangerous situation for policing and it needs to be addressed.

The Government needs to take this situation seriously because it's quite clear the model is not working. Officers put their lives on the line for the public day after day.

They need to listen, they need to listen quickly, because if they don't we are on the brink of disaster.''

According to best practice, police forces should re-rota rest days when they are cancelled.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd later told police leaders to focus on cutting crime instead of lobbying the Government for more money.

And the Government's 114-page blueprint to make Britain's streets safe - published on Monday - contained no analysis of any impact from reductions in officer numbers.

Mr Macleod said: We do not have the resource to engage with the public, all we're doing is fire fighting going from one call to the next call, dealing with one crisis after another.

That cannot continue. If we cannot engage with the public and gain intelligence from them, our policing model fails in this country.''

A Home Office spokesman said: Policing, by its nature, can be a very challenging and demanding job and it is the responsibility of chief officers - supported by the College of Policing - to ensure that good management systems are in place to support officers in their work.

Police forces have a statutory duty to manage the working time and welfare of officers and ensure they can take the leave and rest days to which they are entitled.'