Police officers quitting in record numbers
Record numbers of police officers are quitting amid low morale partly driven by the fall in public confidence in the profession.
Home Office statistics showed that of the 9,080 officers who left the 43 forces in England and Wales in the year to March 31, a total of 5,058 voluntarily resigned.
That accounts for 56 per cent of leavers in this latest year, meaning voluntary resignations by officers – at 3.4 per cent – is the highest since comparable records began in 2003.
It also represents an almost five-fold increase in the number of voluntary resignations in a decade. In 2012, there were just 1,158 who quit voluntarily.
A survey of members by the Police Federation, which represents front-line officers, found one in five police officers planned to quit the police service.
The figures come ahead of next week’s expected announcement by Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, of the Government’s public sector pay offers. The police remuneration review body is understood to have recommended a rise of under five per cent, though still double the rate of inflation.
‘It’s not too late to fix retention crisis’
Brian Booth, the Police Federation’s acting deputy national chairman, said: “The evidence highlights unfair pay, unfair treatment by the former government and rock-bottom morale as key factors leading to alarming retention rates.
“We urge the new Government to heed the voices of our members before we see another record broken on the number of police officers resigning. It is not too late to fix the retention crisis in policing.”
David McKelvey, a former Scotland Yard detective chief inspector and founder of TM Eye, which provides retailers with private detectives who apprehend and prosecute shoplifters, said he was staggered by the number of serving officers seeking to join his ranks even though they would take a pay cut.
Mr McKelvey said young detectives were overloaded with cases and had a lack of supervision and support. This came on top of the recent bad press for policing which meant forces had lost the support of a significant section of the public, he said.
Officers were also nervous about making a mistake in the face of such public scrutiny.
“They are so scared of making a mistake, arresting someone and getting in trouble. There’s a real paranoia within the job,” he said.
More than 80 per cent of those who resigned in the year ending March 31 had less than 10 years of experience.
Some 72 per cent of this group had less than five years of service with a further 10 per cent between 5 and 10 years in policing.
Only 17 per cent of those who left voluntarily had more than 10 years of service.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The Government is committed to supporting the mental and physical wellbeing of all our police and are working closely with police leaders, including the Police Federation, to support this.”
It said voluntary resignation rates, at around three per cent, were low compared to other sectors and the overall leaver rate at 6.2 per cent was 0.4 per cent lower than last year.