Campaign calls for improved protection for officers
Growing concern about the rising numbers of attacks on police officers has prompted the launch of a national campaign aimed at giving them better protection.
The ‘Protect The Protectors’ campaign was launched yesterday (Monday 6 February) by the Police Federation of England and Wales and is being supported by Bedfordshire Police Federation.
“Police officers know that as part of their role in society they are going to face dangerous situations and life-threatening risks,” says Jim Mallen, chairman of Bedfordshire Police Federation.
“They are committed to serving their communities and therefore accept the dangers and risks involved. However, it is unacceptable when those dangers and risks also include attacks from members of the public.
“Police officers should be offered better protection so that they can carry out the job they joined up to do – fighting and preventing crime, keeping the peace and protecting the vulnerable – without fear of being attacked.”
The ‘Protect The Protectors’ campaign will call for:
- a change in legislation, leading to tougher sentences for those who assault emergency service workers
- better training and access to equipment – wider roll-out of protection measures, such as Taser, body worn video and spit guards
- more accurate data on police assaults, and
- improved welfare support.
Nationally, and at a local level, the Police Federation’s Parliamentary Working Group has raised serious concerns around police assaults with new figures suggesting an assault on a police officer happens every four minutes*.
Halifax MP Holly Lynch is leading calls in Parliament for tougher sentencing for those who assault police and other emergency workers. She began to champion the cause when she accompanied a single-crewed officer on patrol in her constituency and had to dial 999 after he came under attack.
Today (Tuesday 7 February) Ms Lynch will present a Ten Minute Rule Bill on the issue in Parliament.
Calum Macleod, vice chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “The campaign will develop in earnest, not only to call for the Government and the Sentencing Council to do more to safeguard public servants in the line of duty, but to show the realities of policing and what officers have to endure in their own words, through a series of hard-hitting videos and case study material.”
PC Mike Bruce and PC Alan O’Shea of West Midlands Police will be at Parliament recounting the assault they faced and the impact it had on them. While arresting two men in a pub, an offender spat in their faces and mouths. They then faced an agonising six-month wait to find out if they had contracted HIV or hepatitis.
Also attending is West Yorkshire officer PC Dan McLaughlin, who was assaulted by a man resisting arrest. During the struggle, PC McLaughlin was hit five or six times over the head with his police radio.
Physical and verbal assaults on police officers are commonplace. Incidents are often under-reported and historically it has been difficult to determine the scale of the issue and national picture.
More information can be found at www.polfed.org/assaults
