80% of PSNI officers are assaulted every year

IF the public do not want to be placed in a spit guard, they should not spit at police officers, the Police Federation for Northern Ireland Conference has heard.

Delegates at the annual event were told how an estimated eight out of 10 police officers in the province were the victims of a physical or verbal assault in a 12-month period.

And that three-quarters of officers said they had been spat at on duty. The Federation used the conference to demand that spit guards are introduced into the force.

“The men and women I am proud to represent are under daily attack,” said Mark Lindsay, Chairman of the PFNI.

“There’s a mistaken perception that this level of violence is ‘part of the job’ or ‘par for the course’. I can assure you that if this level of assaults was taking place elsewhere in the public or the private sector, it would not be tolerated for one second.

“No one, no matter what their job, should have to experience violence at the workplace as a matter of course.”

At the conference in Belfast at the end of May, the Federation published details of a members’ survey and said it showed how violence against officers in Northern Ireland is widespread.

The survey showed 91% of those assaulted reported unarmed physical assaults including wrestling, hitting and kicking.

Almost half (47%) of those who took part in the online poll said they had to deal with being threatened or assaulted with an offensive weapon such as a stick or bottle, and 13% said they were assaulted with a deadly weapon including a firearm.

Mr Lindsay told the conference: “They are assaulted on the streets when they try to restore order. They are assaulted in homes when they try to protect the vulnerable.

“Despite being subjected to such a wide range of assaults and attacks, where possible, officers try to carry on and do the job. While they would expect to experience occasional violence, the frequency of attacks is quite frightening.”

On the topic of spitting, Mr Lindsay added: “We demand the immediate introduction of spitguards to afford adequate protection to officers. Spitting isn’t the same as suffering a physical injury or bruise, but it is every bit as bad, and every bit as unacceptable. The message has to go out that if you don’t want to wear a spitguard, then you shouldn’t spit at officers.”

Chief Constable George Hamilton was in the audience to hear the speech from Mr Lindsay. He responded to delegates’ questions and concerns in a behind closed doors session at the conference following the speech.

In a wide ranging keynote address, Mr Lindsay also called for tougher sentencing for those who assault constables, lambasted direct entry into the PSNI and attacked Government cuts to policing budgets.

He said officers were not only under attack from the public but also under from Government austerity – where budget cuts are leading to the loss of hundreds of posts and where officers’ pay had fallen by 15% in real terms through no or negligible pay rises. He called for more than a 1% pay rise for his members in the coming year.

Delegates also heard how officer confidence in the function and operation of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (PONI) had reached a new low.

Mr Lindsay said: “The Government must redefine the role of the office to ensure that the men and women I represent are not the victims of a ‘witchhunt’, and are not hung out to dry without the benefit of an appeal process. Reform is not so much desirable as essential.”