PEOPLE are frustrated by COVID and are lashing out at police officers, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Chairman Steve Kent thinks it may be one of the factors behind a worrying number of assaults on officers being carried out over the past few months.<\/p>\n
And now he\u2019s calling for a zero-tolerance stance to be taken against would-be assailants.<\/p>\n
More than 30,000 officers were assaulted in England and Wales over 2019\/20; 662 of those were carried out on officers in South Yorkshire leaving 257 of them with injuries of one kind or another.<\/p>\n
Nationally assaults cause over 70,000 sick days to be taken by officers to recuperate, dragging them away from their vital frontline duties.<\/p>\n
A lack of respect for officers, COVID frustrations, no proper deterrent and better recording of assaults in the first place are all behind the stats, Steve said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a combination of all these factors,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do think officers are more willing to report assaults, but I think we\u2019ve seen a rise in assaults since COVID because aspects of society are frustrated and taking it out on policing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m concerned that\u2019s going to get worse as we enter the second national lockdown period.\u201d<\/p>\n
The backlog in court cases isn\u2019t helping the situation and has seen some inconsistent sentencing when police assailants are brought in front of the judge, Steve said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of COVID, the courts are all over the place. There are backlogs, there\u2019s seemingly an atmosphere amongst the courts of just rushing through cases and knocking them to one side and prioritising this, that and the other, and so therefore, there can\u2019t be that consistency of sentencing coming out.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are frustrated, and people are losing respect because there\u2019s no deterrent [to the assault]. But that deterrent hasn\u2019t had a chance to take hold yet because the courts system is under increased strain.\u201d<\/p>\n
That strain often means \u2018lesser\u2019 cases or mitigating factors such as officers being assaulted not being considered when they might have been before.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers have had people who they\u2019ve arrested for numerous offences of which one of which was assaulting a PC, and the lesser offences have been closed off and not dealt with, and they\u2019ve just focused on the serious offences,\u201d Steve said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst there\u2019s an understanding why that happens because of the demand, it doesn\u2019t make it acceptable. They actually need to be dealt with at the most severe end, and that\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Things were better at the height of the first lockdown with robust sentences handed down to people who spat at or coughed at officers, but that now all seems to be in the rearview mirror Steve said.<\/p>\n
He now wants to see a zero-tolerance approach to assaults on police officers and other emergency service workers as he fears assaults are only going to rise in lockdown two.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere needs to be guidelines going out to courts to say, \u2018no, we have a zero-tolerance stance on assaults on police and emergency services staff. You will have to deal with them. You don\u2019t put them in the pecking order of minor, miscellaneous offences\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cUntil then we\u2019re going to continue to see a rise, and I am concerned it is going to rise with a change in public patience about COVID.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt shouldn\u2019t be a flavour of the month thing. It should be a system-wide minimum standard, a zero-tolerance stance. Until that comes in and people are sentenced and put away, I can\u2019t see an end in sight for this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur officers are still going to be putting themselves at risk out there for a public, some of whom just don\u2019t think twice about assaulting them.\u201d<\/p>\n