Police officers working ‘above and beyond’ to maintain basic levels of cover, says head of law enforcement
POLICE officers have been working extended hours, which has resulted in increased staff sickness, as they struggle to maintain basic levels of cover, head of law enforcement Ruari Hardy has said.
It comes as Bailiwick Law Enforcement annual report was published today, revealing that staff numbers have finally started to increase, after several years of struggling.
Both the police and border agency saw an increase in staff members last year – from 131 and 52 up to 140 and 57, respectively.
However, the force struggled with a comparatively high number of resignations, with 16 from the police last year – one more than in 2021.
Mr Hardy said the force had been working to improve the situation.
But he admitted that this was still below the ideal minimum number of officers, which was 152.
‘Across the GBA and police we are yet to be fully staffed and are below the numbers required to deliver the services that we would seek to do,’ he said.
‘However, using our pre-existing resources we have ensured that the service to the public has not been significantly impacted, and staff have worked above and beyond to ensure that services have been appropriately delivered.’
Mr Hardy said that the uniformed division faced the biggest challenge in maintaining a safe level of resources.
‘Much planning and management time was spent to ensure that sufficient cover was in place to meet service standards,’ he said.
He added that reduced staffing levels did have quite a detrimental impact on staff, with staff working extended hours and experiencing a high level of duty changes.
‘This was reflected in overtime and staff sickness levels,’ he said.
