13 March 2024

‘Appalling’ Number Of Assaults On Police Officers

Last year, there were 50,259 assaults on UK police officers – 40,330 in England and Wales, 6,657 in Scotland, and 3,272 in Northern Ireland. That equates to one officer being assaulted every 10 minutes.

That is “an appalling statistic”, said James Dimmack, Chair of Dorset Police Federation.

James continued: “It seems to be more and more OK for people to push back against the authority of police officers when we’re just trying to do our job. No one should be subjected to violence in the workplace.

“Of course we do a job that subjects us to conflict and confrontation, and it is inevitable that we will face violence situations. But we can never accept it as the norm. It’s plain wrong. We’ve got to do our job and we’ve got to go home to our families. We should not be subjected to this level of violence.”

James added that it was one thing having the Assault On Emergency Workers (Offences) Act, a legislation that carries a maximum penalty of two years’ imprisonment, but another matter whether that was being implemented in the courts.

He said: “We need to Protect the Protectors in more than just name. We need to protect them in legislation, and in the implementation of that legislation. We need to be brave enough to say: ‘This is not acceptable’.”