Police Officers Are Facing A “Force Lottery” As To What Support They Receive

Police officers are facing a “force lottery” as to what support they receive from senior leaders, Hampshire Police Federation has warned.

Zoe Wakefield, the outgoing Federation Chair, said the level of help officers received was wholly dependent on the force they worked for.

It came after Oscar Kilo launched a new families toolkit for policing, designed to guide forces in developing how they communicate with and support families.

Zoe said: “If you’ve got a chief constable who is very family orientated, very welfare orientated, then your force will have lots of support.

“But if you have a chief constable who doesn’t care, then all that stuff gets lost – and it shouldn’t be that way.

“It shouldn’t be that the support available depends on which police force you work for.”

Zoe praised the anticipated impact the Oscar Kilo toolkit will have on creating a consistent system for police support nationally.

She added: “It’s something that every single police force should be forced into adopting, practicing and having in place for officers.

“The officers will benefit, as well as their families, and then there’s a real benefit to the organisation.

“If you’ve got officers that feel supported and valued, they’re going to hopefully come back to work because they want to come back – because they’re being treated fairly and people care.”

Zoe said she had heard from officers who have been off for months but not received any contact from their force.

Unfortunately, this was not unusual, according to Zoe.

She added: “So much support needs to be put in place and forces need to show that they care, not just stick a poster on the wall or have an intranet article about how much they care.

“They need to actually practice it as well.”