Welsh officers report more assaults than colleagues in English forces

8 February 2021

Police officers in Wales are being verbally and physically assaulted more often than their counterparts in England during the response to the pandemic.

Statistics from the demand, capacity and welfare survey, which is carried out by the Police Federation of England and Wales every two years, show officers in Wales, have since the start of the pandemic in March last year, been more likely to be insulted, threatened, hit or kicked.

In Wales, 888 officers took part in survey. Of those, 35 per cent said they were verbally insulted at least once a week, 24 per cent said they were verbally threatened at least once a week and 17 per cent said they were physically attacked without a weapon at least once a week. This was about six or seven per cent higher than the equivalent responses from officers in England.

Mark Bleasdale, who is the Federation’s Welsh lead and chairs its Welsh Affairs Sub-Committee, said: “Police officers face a tirade of abuse and assaults on a daily basis and it is concerning to see that these seem even more common for officers in Wales, than for our colleagues over the border.

“The survey was carried out while police forces were battling to enforce the Covid regulations and it is possible that as Welsh forces were more stringent with enforcing rules and travel bans they were subjected to more unacceptable abuse.

“While the reasoning for the higher figures is not clear, what is crystal clear and, always has been, is that abuse of any sort towards police officers, is totally unacceptable. These people work tirelessly to protect the public at times they are most vulnerable and they should not be subject to any form of physical or verbal assault.”

Other statistics from the survey showed that while fewer officers in Wales (42 per cent compared to 49 per cent in England) were taking days off for sickness absence, a higher proportion of those (34 per cent compared to 31 per cent) that were doing so were reporting it being down to stress, depression or anxiety.

And, 70 per cent of respondents working for Welsh forces stated they had been to work in the previous 12 months while physically unwell, 71 per cent said they had while mentally unwell, compared to 65 per cent in both categories for England.

A total of 38 per cent of respondents reported never or rarely being able to take their full rest break entitlement and, while 71 per cent of respondents indicated that their overall health was good or very good, 30 per cent said that they viewed their job as very or extremely stressful.

Survey responses were gathered over a seven-week period between October and November 2020. The demand, capacity and welfare survey is carried out every two years with Federation members from all 43 forces in England and Wales asked to submit their views.

Read the full survey report for all four Welsh forces.