Two West Midland police officers a day assaulted in the line of duty
THE shocking scale of violence suffered by West Midlands police officers at the hands of the public has been revealed.
Officers reported 621 physical assaults against them while doing their job in 2017, an average of almost two a day.
This included everything from being knifed and attacked with broken glass to being spat at, according to the latest figures released in a Freedom of Information request.
One officer was stabbed, seven were attacked while trying to assist a colleague, one was attacked with broken glass, while two were assaulted with other items and nine were spat at.
A further 569 were physically assaulted by an offender in custody, nine were by ordinary members of the public and 22 were medical patients.
The figures come just weeks after an officer was stabbed while mak- ing an arrest in Erdington. On December 12, a 36-year-old neighbourhood officer was knifed in the line of duty during an arrest attempt at a home in Wood End Road. He underwent surgery for the neck wound and a 48-year-old man was sectioned under the Mental Health Act following the stabbing.
West Midlands Police Assistant Chief Constable Sarah Boycott said: “It is our responsibility to get in the way of harm and protect the public and, although we do this, we do not condone behaviour that results in our officers and staff being assaulted. When we put on the police uniform we do not stop being a son or daughter, a mum or dad, a loved one or a friend. Therefore an assault on an officer or any of our emergency colleagues, should be treated no different to an assault on a member of public. “If officers and staff are assaulted, they will be given the most appropriate welfare and support after the incident. Their case will be investigated with the same care, compassion and commitment as an assault on a member of the public.” The statistics also revealed other injuries officers sustained while carrying out their duty. These included five road traffic collisions, bites/ stings, contact with harmful substances, a fall from a height over two metres, incidents of harassment and abuse and 33 injuries caused by physical exertion from restraining offenders.