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Stressed out police in West Midlands want to quit

More than half of West Midlands Police constables want to leave their job according to a new survey.

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Officers also told the authors of the independent report they were working under stress and were suffering burnout in their jobs.

The Police Federation, which represents the welfare of officers below the rank of Superintendent, commissioned the study with the University of Nottingham.

Its findings were that 51 per cent of constables wanted to leave policing, up from 45 per cent last year. Some 39 per cent of sergeants also expressed their wish to leave, however that was down from 42 per cent last year. Among constables there was a 12 per cent rise in reports of high emotional exhaustion or burnout – up to 58.6 per cent. For sergeants, the figure was 61.5 per cent.

Concerns about extra workload and the cancellation of rest days and not getting enough breaks were also raised. DrJonathan Houdmont, Lecturer in Occupational Health Psychology at the University of Nottingham, said: "It is recommended that the force explores what might reasonably be done to reduce exposure to the problematic aspects of work."

West Midlands Police head of human resources Chris Rowson said police work was sometimes stressful but added: "The most recent internal survey showed that the majority of officers responded favourably to questions around training, pride in their work and job satisfaction.

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