Concern as just 4% of assaults on police lead to accused going to jail
ONLY 4% of recorded assaults on frontline police result in the perpetrator being jailed.
Figures also show that just 36% of the attacks lead to a prosecution and 31% to a conviction.
Police Federation chairman John Apter said: “Far too often I hear of the Crown Prosecution Service dropping charges... Or when offenders are convicted, they get short or suspended sentences – often meaning they can walk, smirking, from court.” He said the message must be “if you assault an officer you will be jailed”.
Official figures show there were 26,295 recorded assaults on constables in England and Wales in 2018, with 9,565 being prosecuted. Court figures reveal only 8,265 of those accused were convicted and 1,103 jailed.
These are for assaults, not more serious attacks such as GBH. Police say there are more than two million physical
SGT STEVIE BULL WHO FOUGHT OFF A GUNMAN proportion of assaults on police officers which don’t lead to conviction
SERGEANT Stevie Bull was answering a routine call to a hospital when she was confronted by a gunman who was threatening a nurse.
Security men had gone to the wrong location during the incident at University College Hospital, Central London, in March last year and Sgt Bull was on her own. The suspect had a large suitcase and she feared it might contain a bomb.
According to her training, the officer 28, who won a Pride of
Britain award, in partnership with TSB, should have backed away and waited for armed back-up.
But retreat was not an option with the life of the nurse at stake.
“I was so close to him that it was fight or flight mode and I went for him,” she said.
Sgt Bull, who was a PC at the time, suffered head and neck injuries in the attacks on them every year but the vast majority are not reported. The CPS said: “We will not hesitate to charge this disgraceful offence if our legal test is met.” It added the Director of Public Prosecutions has met police and “agreed a joint approach”, with “updated CPS guidance... being published shortly”.
PC Stuart Outten was attacked with a machete
Sgt Stevie Bull struggle. She said: “I didn’t think about my own personal safety. I just acted on instinct.” She pinned the gunman to the ground and managed to handcuff him after security officers dashed to the scene of the commotion.
Another officer, PC Stuart Outten, has been branded Britain’s hardest copper after he Tasered a suspect despite being stabbed with a machete.
He was struck across the head and hand with the foot-long weapon after stopping a van in Leyton, East London, to check the driver’s insurance details.
But the modest officer, 29, brushed aside the praise.
“I’ve been looking after Londoners for the past 10 years and I’m going back out doing it all again.”
A man has been charged with attempted murder and possessing an offensive weapon.
I didn’t think about my own safety I acted on instinct. It was fight or flight mode