NEW figures show frontline police officers in Dorset were not owed any rest days towards the end of last year, in contrast to other forces across the country.

Snapshot figures obtained by the Press Association under Freedom of Information laws have revealed almost a quarter-of-a-million rest days were owed to 70,000 police officers in England and Wales as of September 17 last year - the last time the country's terror alert was at "critical" following the Parsons Green terror attack, often resulting in holidays and time off being cancelled.

Some 237,697 rest days were either cancelled, outstanding or waiting to be re-rostered per officer, according to just over 30 forces with data. The true figure is expected to be far higher when including the country's two biggest constabularies - the Met and West Midlands Police, neither of which provided comparable data.

Calum Macleod, chairman of Police Federation in England and Wales, said cancelling rest days - the equivalent of a weekend off during a working week - was having a worrying impact on morale, mental and physical health, and the efficiency of the service.

A typical full-time officer would expect to have around nine rest days in a standard month, although some forces said officers could be paid instead of receiving the time back.

According to best practice, police forces should re-rota rest days when they are cancelled.

But Dorset Police provided data which suggested they adhered to this policy completely.

As of September 30 there were no rest days owed to the 1,368 full-time equivalent officers. The force said all frontline officers "are re-rostered rest days at the point of cancellation so there are no rest days outstanding nor waiting to be re-rostered".

Dorset Police’s new chief constable, James Vaughan, spoke about the strain officers are under and how he aims to tackle it in a recent interview with the Daily Echo.

He said the well-being of under-pressure officers was one of his top priorities as they have told him how they are "struggling to manage the workload".

Investment is needed to counteract the rising strain on frontline policing, he said.

The figures about rest days come amid a row over police staffing levels after a key Home Office report into tackling violent crime this month failed to acknowledge officer numbers.

Mr Macleod said: "I think this paints a picture of what policing is like in England and Wales at this time - policing is in crisis.

"We do not have the resources at the moment to meet the demands of the public - whether that be in an event, a terrorist incident, or whether that be from a police officer's perspective of actually achieving their rest days.”

"It's really important that anybody has rest between their shift patterns because if that isn't happening what you tend to find is people getting fatigued very easily.

"If that isn't happening and rest days are being banked, it's a dangerous situation for the public, it's a dangerous situation for policing and it needs to be addressed.”