Staffing the force: police staff in England and Wales’ experiences of working through a COVID-19 lockdown

Fleming, Jenny and Brown, Jennifer ORCID: 0000-0002-6395-0244 (2022) Staffing the force: police staff in England and Wales’ experiences of working through a COVID-19 lockdown. Police Practice and Research, 23 (2). 236 - 253. ISSN 1561-4263

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Abstract

This online survey (N = 2365) examined the experiences of (non-sworn/non-warranted) staff serving in police forces in England and Wales during the March to July COVID-19 virus lockdown in the UK. Particular attention was paid to staff working from home, those able to partially work from home and those who remained at work in their usual police location. Home working staff were generally less stressed than those remaining partially or totally at their work location. Public interacting staff were particularly stressed. Regression analyses found that for all staff, irrespective of location, tiredness and finding work more difficult were implicated in increased stress. For those remaining at their place of work homeschooling and lacking preparedness for another lockdown were additional stressors. The importance of feeling valued is discussed. Some recommendations are offered in the light of these findings including the concept of moral injury repair.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/gppr20
Additional Information:	Funding Information: We are grateful to Ben Priestly from Unison for their advice concerning the survey and their help in its distribution and to all Police Staff members who completed the survey during an extremely difficult time. The authors would also like to acknowledge the helpful comments and suggestions from the reviewers. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors
Divisions:	Social Policy
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2022 11:30
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2024 08:03
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/113689

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