Inspectors and Chief Inspectors Urged To Look After Themselves If They Are To Look After Others

INSPECTORS and Chief Inspectors are working extremely long hours and need to be able to look after themselves before they can look after others, Hampshire Police Federation has said.

Inspectors are under strain and it is affecting their home lives as well as their desire to go for promotion, the Federation says. The national PFEW has launched a campaign for Inspectors to know their rights around rest days, overtime and being on-call.

Zoe Wakefield, Chair of Hampshire Police Federation, said: “Their roles are so demanding and the majority work way over their 40 hours every week. The mechanisms and the issues for recording those hours and getting the time back just isn’t a very good one. Not in our force, anyway.

“Our inspectors and chief inspectors are really key in supporting our PCs and our sergeants, which obviously are the majority of our Federation members. Obviously inspectors and chief inspectors are as well, but they’re so important in supervision, morale, wellbeing, of all the other officers.

“But they also need to look after themselves so it’s really key that they are not put upon too much, not overworked, and they get the same rest and recuperation.”

What would Zoe’s advice be to inspectors and chief inspectors that are feeling a bit overwhelmed?

“They should obviously be raising it with their line management to say, ‘This is ridiculous, I can’t keep going like this’, because people end up crashing and then they’re not at work at all,” said Zoe.

“And remember they can come to us at the Police Federation if they need. It’s helpful if we’ve got a collective group of people that are all saying the same thing, that helps us if we want to go to the more senior management to say, ‘This needs to change’”.