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One in nine South Yorks police recruits drop out
ONE in nine police officers recruited by South Yorkshire Police over the last seven years has dropped out before finishing their probationary period, The Star can reveal today.
Under the Freedom of Information Act the police force has revealed that, of the 1,369 officers it recruited between 2000 and 2007, a total of 147 resigned before the end of the two year period.
Last year 14 quit – seven men and seven women – and in 2006 and 2005 some 23 would-be officers handed in their notice each year.
The highest number of probationary officers to leave the force in recent years was in 2004, when 27 quit.
Those who leave before the end of their initial 17-week block of intensive training, or the two year probationary period, are not obliged to give the force a reason for their decision.
They are also not required to pay back any of the salary they have been paid over that time.
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South Yorkshire Police has revealed it costs 3,000 to train each new recruit and that each starts on a salary of 21,009, which rises to 23,454 after 33 weeks.
Insp Bob Pitt, chairman of South Yorkshire's Police Federation – the bobbies' union – said some may have voluntarily resigned, before being pushed, after failing to make the grade.
"Sometimes these kind of figures don't tell the whole story, some may have known they were not likely to make fit and effective officers and taken the decision to resign before they were forced to go," he said.
"But this is an extremely demanding job and it would not surprise me for student officers to think the job is not worth it when you consider the pressure they are under, combined with the pay and the shifts.
"On top of that they will see Community Support Officers getting almost the same amount of money and working in better conditions – patrolling the streets in threes, for example, as opposed to being out alone."
The initial 17-week block of training new recruits must complete covers legislation, diversity, self-defence training, first aid and entails community placements.
Recruits are then assigned to a policing district and a personal tutor who works through a checklist to ensure they are safe to patrol the streets alone.
During the two-year probationary period they attend further courses on legislation, self defence and diversity.
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