Force sets up new working group on police assaults

SOUTH Yorkshire Police is to set up a gold working group to look at the issue of officer assaults.

Neil Bowles, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said the force is following the lead of Hampshire Constabulary, which has completely changed the way it deals with assaults on officers.

There were 49 recorded assaults and 155 assaults without injury on a constable recorded in South Yorkshire last year.

The government has started publishing officer assault figures again – five years after it stopped compiling the stats.

He said: “I’m pleased that the Home Office have finally got their act together. The figure does reflect what I felt was an accurate picture, rather than the two assaults we were supposed to have recorded the other year.

“I’ve spoken to our Deputy Chief Constable and we are setting up a gold group to look at the matter as Hampshire Constabulary have done, and look at the whole situation from welfare, recording, investigation and court processes all in one.”

Nationally, there were 23,000 assaults on police officers in England and Wales in 2014/15 – that’s 63 a day.

Policing Minister Mike Penning said: “Our police do a difficult job protecting our communities and keeping crime down. They put themselves in harm’s way to keep the rest of us safe. One assault on a police officer is one too many. Anyone who assaults an officer can expect the full force of the law.

“I have listened to frontline officers who have said they want to see figures on police officers who are assaulted published and I want to understand the nature and scale of the problem.

“The figures are only a rough estimate, but I will be working with forces to ensure we can publish more robust figures next year. I also want to see increasing use of technology, such as body worn cameras that help protect officers and bring offenders to justice.”

HMIC collected the information on officer assaults and published it annually until 2006, when it was then published by the Home Office. However this was stopped in 2010.

PoliceOracle.com has regularly submitted Freedom of Information requests to forces to obtain the information in the intervening years.

Hampshire Police Federation Chairman John Apter has long campaigned on the issue, and met the Home Office before the general election, helping to convince them about the importance of publishing accurate numbers.

He told PoliceOracle.com: “While the data is not complete yet, this is a really good, positive step. We need the true picture of assaults to be able to address the issue, especially in an organisation like the police, where dealing with victims and crime is our business. It shouldn’t be left up to the media obtaining them via Freedom of Information requests.

“I think the real figure is probably higher than the estimate, but at least in future we will be able to find out the exact scale of the issue.”

You can see the full Government stats here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445667/police-officers-assaulted-mar15.pdf.