SOME workers at North Yorkshire Police have referred to the force as a “ticking time bomb”.

Comments about the force were posted online on a site which allows workers to discuss their thoughts, praise and problems with employers in confidence.

The force has said it's important to keep the comments in perspective with changes in budget, changes in legislation, and changes in expectation to be taken in to consideration.

The majority of the most recent comments purporting to be from North Yorkshire Police employees on glassdoor.co.uk - which dated from February and January - were critical of many areas of the force.

One, under the heading “ticking time bomb”, said: “Middle management are diabolical. Extra work, forms, legislation is constantly piled on yet serious concerns raised by officers and staff are simply dismissed as the required actions don’t satisfy their promotion criteria.

“Someday the wheel is going to come off and something unspeakable will happen, but it’ll all be our fault no doubt for not doing enough with the pathetic little we have. Management at HQ and Harrogate way live in a bubble it would seem, so ridiculously out of touch with what actually goes on in the streets of Scarborough and York.”

Another, under the title “good people undervalued and unsupported”, said “nepotism is endemic at middle, senior and chief officer level”, and “political motivated and self serving actions are valued over hard work, commitment to service and ethical/professional standards”.

Positive comments on the force focussed on the “friendly and supportive community”, “great colleagues”, and “variety of work and great team spirit”.

The ‘reviews’ also showed 36 per cent of those surveyed would not recommend working for the force to a friend, but Deputy Chief Constable Lisa Winward said it was “important to keep it in perspective”.

She said: “Policing is a challenging job that can be really stressful and frustrating, but it is a fact of life in public service, so we are doing everything we can to help our workforce to deal with these pressures. As well as flexible working policies to help people with work/life balance, we have boosted the level of welfare support available to officers and staff, and invested in a well-being programme to support people in looking after their mental and physical health. Our job is to look after the public, but we can only do that if we look after our own employees, so that is what we are trying to do.

"Like many other organisations we keep an eye on what people post about us on Glass Door.  Over three years there have been just five negative comments posted on there, and of course we’re concerned about those, but it’s important to keep it in perspective."