‘Appalling’ Media Narrative Fuels Violence Against Police

AN “appalling and unjustified” media narrative is fuelling violence against police officers, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

Chair Steve Kent was speaking as new figures show that there are more than 112 assaults a day against officers in England and Wales.

National figures for the year ending March 2022 showed there were 41,221 assaults on officers, up from 36,969 the previous year.

Steve said: “The current rhetoric against the police is fuelling a mindset that attacking the police, whether it be verbal or physical, is almost legitimised. That is an absolute disgrace.

“Our local media has generally been very balanced. But the national media is coming out with a simply appalling narrative, which is totally unjustified. Based on the actions of a tiny minority, they are damning the whole police service.

“That’s having a catastrophically detrimental effect on morale and it’s also fuelling assaults on police. We’ve had some horrendous assaults on police recently. That’s not just down to the media, but it doesn’t help, because there’s no sympathy out there. One of our officers was stamped on and had the ligaments torn from his arm last week and the story got very little traction.

“The way that police officers are being attacked in the media is totally disproportionate. Cops are going out, they’re giving their lives, they’re giving their health, and they’re getting this back from the papers.

“The cops on the street who have just been spat at, abused, constantly dealing with the most horrific of incidents, they then see headlines like: ‘Where have all the good cops gone?’. It’s a drip-drip effect. Cops say to me: ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ If we start pushing people away like that, that’s a negative.”

Steve added that many MPs were also “categorically anti-police”, although the majority of MPs in South Yorkshire were either supportive or neutral.

He continued: “Our anti-corruption department in our force is one of the best in the country and it actively roots out corrupt officers.

“When you look at other countries around the world, you look at the policing at the Champions League final, you look at what’s happening in America, you realise we actually have the best police in the world. We should be celebrating it, not trying to destroy it.”