Suffolk Police Federation say police pay 'has been disregarded since 2010'
A report from the Trade Union Congress found that constables and sergeants are paid ÂŁ5595 a year lesser now than they were in 2011
The chair of Suffolk Police Federation has called for an increase in pay for his members, to reflect the wide range of activities they undertake as well as the high rates of inflation predicted for this year.
It comes after a Trade Union Congress report, published at the end of last month, found that constables and sergeants were paid ÂŁ5595 pounds a year lesser than what they received in 2011, after adjusting for inflation.
Darren Harris tells us their current salaries are not representative of the work that police officers in the county do: "Crime has changed since 2010. It's a different world that we live in the public sector pay cuts that have happened right across the board since 2010 has had a real negative impact on policing.
"We are the last line and we are now expected to pick up a lot more. For example, the amount of mental health issues that we're dealing with in Suffolk now has massively increased since then, and that's just adds to our workload."
The report focussed on key workers who were likely to work on Christmas day and found that there was a twelve percent reduction in the annual salaries for police officers now (sergeants and below) compared to ten years ago. Mr Harris is not surprised.
"Police pay has been disregarded since 2010 at the start of austerity. Although there have been some pay increases since 2018, I don't think they reflect inflation, and looking at where inflation is going this year, pay will lag even further behind, and that gap (between wages in 2011 and now) will get bigger."
Mr Harris believes the new year will also see renewed demand on police services. "Look back at the last 21 months and all the the extra tasks and laws that we've been asked to enforce from the Covid-19 related legislation.
"I think as we move into 2022, we're gonna continue to do that, as well as the after-effect of Covid-19 and the crimes that will bring. I think there's going to be a huge demand placed upon the police.
"We're a 24/7 service. My colleagues and my members have been there day-in, day-out, protecting the public and that's going to continue, and I think the demands are just going to get more and more, on a very fatigued police force."
He is also hoping for a renewed focus on the mental health of officers and strains caused by the job, especially those caused by Covid-19 restrictions.
"A lot of support that police officers have is peer support. When you have Covid-19 and Covid-19 restrictions, you're not allowed to mix teams and have to work in bubbles then a lot of that peer support is lost and the socialising and the downtime that people have to be able to talk through these problems and deal with it is lost as well.
"These are the types of things that we need to be aware of and pick up in the future as we head out of this pandemic and start to tackle in the new year."