PC paid £18k in overtime as force's bill nears £6m

A police officer earned £18,344 on top of their salary due to the amount of overtime they worked, figures reveal.

It came as Essex Police forked out £5.7m on paying officers for overtime in the year to November.

Officers have been left "broken" as a result of being "forced" into working extra shifts, the county's police federation warned.

Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington praised the dedication of his officers and insisted: "Crime isn't nine-to-five."

The figures, obtained by the BBC via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request, showed £149,882 in overtime payments was shared between 10 officers.

The top earners were paid £18,344, £17,918 and £17,557 respectively over the past year.

Laura Heggie, chairwoman of Essex Police Federation, said it was "very rare" officers would go home on time.

"Sometimes officers are forced to work their days off when they don't want to," she told the BBC.

"They often feel if they're not in the workplace, they're letting their colleagues down.

"I've spoken to officers who are broken but will say 'the team is really short today' and feel they have to work."

Ms Heggie said there were also police who needed overtime "because they wouldn't be able to survive without it".

She said 23 Essex Police officers have claimed food vouchers from the federation since 27 November, with £1,850 in donations from retired officers spent on feeding them.

Food and clothing banks have also been operating across the county's stations.

The starting pay for police constables in England in Wales is £29,907, according to the Police Federation.

"For many of them, overtime isn't pocket money. A lot of officers coming to us are living hand to mouth," Ms Heggie said.

"Say a miracle happened and as of tomorrow there was no more overtime, I genuinely think people would leave because they wouldn't be able to survive."

Earlier this month, Mr Harrington said he might be forced to cut 200 officers and staff unless Essex Police received extra funding.

However, he doubled-down on the £5,788,421 spent on overtime in the past year, claiming it was "the reality of hard work" put in by his force.

Mr Harrington told the BBC: "When there are murders, fatal road collisions or missing people, we can't just clock off.

"When there are criminals to catch, families to break bad news to, suspects that we need to interview through the night to secure charges – we have to work around the clock.

"We have to ensure our officers are paid for the very difficult job they do.

"The drive and determination of our officers is undeniable, but so is the impact of the hours and hours of work that goes into these payments."

Mr Harrington said he recognised the toll increased hours had on his officers and their families, but that overtime provided flexibility to fight crime.

He stressed the force's bill was lower than the past two years and said all payments were "properly authorised, scrutinised and accounted for".

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