STRESS and depression are partly to blame for the rising number of North Yorkshire Police officers going off the beat.

Each condition accounted for more than 1,200 missed working days among uniformed officers between April and September this year.

Police chiefs are concerned about increased sickness and hope to drive it back down with a campaign named Operation A100 - which aims for 100 per cent attendance.

They are also considering revising the number of planned medical retirements to improve long-term sickness rates.

The figures come as the number of officers taking time off for illness overall increased by almost a quarter, with 72,858 hours lost in the past year.

In that period, the average police officer lost 47 hours work due to sickness, seven hours more than the previous year.

Jon Porter, director of human resources, said that as the force improved its operational results, then the focus moved to team and individual performance.

He said: "Employing high-performing people requires incentives for those who can achieve results and form, but supportive action with those who are underachieving."

The force has begun reviewing all sickness records and collecting reports from staff, while senior staff have been given extra training in managing sickness.

Later this month, during a day of action, every person who is off sick will be contacted in a bid to improve communication between bosses and staff.

Mark Botham, North Yorkshire Police Federation chairman, said although senior officers had "good intentions", question marks remained over how they would deal with long-term sickness.

He said that the police force mirrored society in that a large number of officers missed work through depression and stress, although these problems tended to be diagnosed by doctors rather than self-certified.

He added that it may be necessary to increase the number of people who retire on medical grounds to cut the number of people on long-term sick leave.

"Operation A100 can make an impact on short-term sickness. What it cannot do is make a huge difference with long-term sickness issues," he said.

North Yorkshire Police currently employs 1,544 police officers, slightly more than the target level of 1,520.

Updated: 10:17 Wednesday, November 10, 2004