Shocking increase in assaults on the police
POLICE forces across the country have suffered a 20 per cent increase in assaults on their officers during lockdown.
Figures from 30 forces show that at least 7,147 assaults were recorded in the first three months of lockdown, compared with 5,969 for the same period last year.
It comes as a study of 40,000 police officers and staff found 88 per cent said they had been assaulted during their career, with 39 per cent attacked in the past year.
Leicestershire Police recorded the largest increase of 102 per cent, with 205 cases, up from 101 the previous year.
Derbyshire Constabulary saw a 57 per cent rise, followed by South Yorkshire Police and Cleveland Police, each with 55 per cent.
Leicestershire Police’s Chief Constable Simon Cole said a “particularly distasteful trend” of offenders spitting and coughing on officers and threatening to infect them with coronavirus has also developed.
He said: “The rise in assaults has huge impacts on staff both physically and mentally, and a huge impact on communities.
“Thousands and thousands of days of policing are lost because of these assaults.
“I think officers and staff know they have to take risks on occasion, but you can see that they’re concerned.”
Mr Cole said all his officers now have body- worn cameras to record incidents as court evidence.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council wants suspects who spit at police to be forced to give a blood sample to test for disease and called for spit guards to be issued to officers.