817 officers were assaulted in South Yorkshire last year. That\u2019s more than 15 every week.<\/p>\n
Figures published by the Government show that nationally, there were 36,969 assaults on police officers in England and Wales last year. That\u2019s a 20%+ annual national rise.<\/p>\n
It works out as 720 assaults a week, 101 assaults on police officers every day and more than 4 assaults every hour.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent, Chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said that the staggering numbers were appalling but it was a small positive that the increasing numbers show that more colleagues are willing to report when they are assaulted.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cFrustratingly we are hearing of officers who get assaulted with injury or spat at and the culprits are getting away without a custodial sentence \u2013 and that can\u2019t be right. We must properly protect the protectors.\u201d<\/p>\n
11,235 police officers were injured in England and Wales when the public assaulted them over the past year \u2013 that\u2019s 30 injuries to police officers every single day of the year.<\/p>\n
Steve added: \u201cWhat I want to focus on is assaults that involve injury or involve spitting or involve that kind of seriousness. They are the ones that need to have a mandatory jail sentence. That is the only way we\u2019re going to crack this.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very difficult to articulate that every assault, regardless of how bad, should end up in prison\u2026 but if we focus on assaults with injury, then a prison sentence for the perpetrator is the way to deal with it and it\u2019s the only way to deal with it, as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n