Officer safety starts with training and equipment

THE College of Policing says it will be focusing on training and equipment to keep officers and staff safe.

In South Yorkshire, there were 49 assaults on police officers and 155 assault without injury on a constable last year.

The College said: “Policing can be risky and officers and staff will frequently have to face challenging and dangerous situations. However, this does not mean it is acceptable for them to be assaulted.”

It added: ”The Home Office estimated there were around 23,000 assaults on officers across all 43 forces in England and Wales, along with the British Transport Police, in 2014 to the end of March 2015.

“While it is for individual forces to assess the threat against officers and staff in their areas and take appropriate action to protect them, we set standards for the learning, delivery and assessment of personal safety training.

“Both this and public safety training equip officers with the skills to deal with and avoid potential conflict situations. It also trains them to restrain people in the safest and most effective way possible.

“This training is reviewed every 12 months to ensure officers have it at the forefront of their mind to assist them in conducting risk assessments when dealing with suspects and members of the public.”

CEO of the College, Chief Constable Alex Marshall, (pictured) said: “Officers and staff across all forces do an exceptional job and those in policing know better than anyone the threat that we often face while out protecting the public and doing our duty.

“However, just because we may have signed up to face danger on occasions, it does not mean we should expect to be assaulted.

“I have been in discussions with different forces and federations about this and was interested recently to speak to the Hampshire Police Federation about the force’s seven-point plan to follow when an officer reports an assault.

“The plan is designed to ensure any such incident is thoroughly investigated.

“Our people are important and deserve the best protection. We must constantly look at how training and equipment can be developed and changed to improve safety for those on the frontline.”