“The reality is that these high profile assaults on police officers are not irregular or unusual – we must #ProtectTheProtectors”
Over the Christmas period, Staffordshire Police have seen a significant number of serious assaults on Officers. Keith Jervis, Chairman of Staffordshire Police Federation, outlines the impact this is having on the officers and the service they can provide to the public.
“In this Christmas period alone, we’ve had one officer who had his jaw dislocated, an Officer who had his leg broken resulted in him needing an operation, and one officer who’s likely going to be off long-term sick with a fractured wrist. And these are just some of the more serious assaults."
“The reality is that these assaults are not irregular or unusual. This is happening every day to our Officers, and every time the impact to the Force is so significant."
“Staffordshire has lost so many officers because of government cuts. This force, at its maximum, stood at about 2,400, and it is now down to roughly 1,600."
“Whenever we have an Officer that goes off on long-term sick, having been assaulted and injured, the shift feels a significant effect because numbers are already so short."
“When a shift only comprises of four or five people, losing one Officer to injury puts significant demand on the others, and of course increased risk. Where at some point there may have been sufficient numbers to double-crew, losing an Officer now leaves the supervisors no option but to single-crew everybody."
“Perpetrators are less likely to take on two officers that turn up at an incident. When you come across two people involved in a confrontation and you are on your own, the risk is that you’ve got to get involved and you are outnumbered straight away. Statistically that’s borne out."
“In Staffordshire, our Chief Constable now puts his own statement on all files that go to the CPS when a police officer’s assaulted to highlight the significant impact each injury has in terms of policing, that, ultimately, we can’t resource as we should be due to lack of Officers."
“We need to paint this picture for the court. They need to understand what the ramifications are when a police officer gets assaulted. We’ve seen so many farcical punishments dished out by the court in recent months. One offender back was fined £50, and it was his fourth conviction for assaulting a police officer."
“The likelihood now is that you absolutely will not go to prison if you assault a police officer. The latest figures show that only 1 in 20 occasions where an officer was assaulted, the offender was to serve any term of imprisonment, it’s shocking."
“It really is time that laws regarding Officers assaults were taken seriously. We need to Protect the Protectors.”
