Praise for South Yorkshire Police officers who delivered baby and saved woman from drowning in pond

The officer was with a colleague on a house visit in South Yorkshire when the woman's waters broke and she helped deliver the infant.

The incident was revealed by South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings in a blog posted to his website, where he paid tribute to the officers who go above and beyond to help members of the public, saying "we take for granted" the lengths some members of the force go to to help people.

On another recent occasion, a different officer saved a woman's life after she got into trouble in a pond near Barnsley at night time.

Dr Billings wrote: "From time to time I hear about things that police officers do which are not quite in the normal line of duty.

"Recently I was told about an officer in the Barnsley district who rescued a woman who had wandered by night into a large pond and was soon out of her depth and in trouble. The officer and a colleague answered the call for help.

"While his colleague guided him with a beam of light from a torch, the officer waded into the water and then swam to the struggling woman.

"He brought her safely back to the bank, probably saving her life."

He added: "I also heard about an officer who had only been in the force for a few months but found herself with a colleague in a house where a woman went into labour. The officer delivered the baby.

"When I congratulated and thanked her, she told me that she had joined the force because she wanted ‘a job with a bit of variety’."

It comes as another Yorkshire police force revealed it had seen a huge surge in the number of assaults reported against officers during the coronavirus lockdown.

North Yorkshire Police said assaults on staff and officers rose by up to 60 per cent, with the force's Chief Constable issuing a plea for greater respect for officers.

Dr Billings added: "We take it for granted that police officers will deliver babies and save people from drowning. This is part of our culture. Not all the world’s police forces would look at it that way.

"Policing is a varied career and no day is ever the same as the next. But to all those new officers now joining I would say, just be careful what you wish for."

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