A BRAND-new APP is being launched allowing police forces to record incidents of assault against officers and staff in a consistent way.<\/p>\n
The roll out of this APP is an integral part of the wider Operation Hampshire programme in the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS), which is led by Oscar Kilo through the College of Policing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s really important is getting managers to use this APP,\u201d said Steve Kent, Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation. \u201cThey need to use it to report things, use it to report officers being assaulted, rather than relying on officers themselves to do it because that defeats the objective.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this is good. I think this is all positive and it ties in with a positive narrative of getting recognition out there and getting things registered and recorded properly about assaults.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Government statistics, 817 officers were assaulted in South Yorkshire last year. That\u2019s more than 15 every week.<\/p>\n
Steve added: \u201cI\u2019m involved in the Oscar Kilo team for the force so I will be linking in with our ACC to make sure that, if we don\u2019t use this, we\u2019ve got a suitable, as-good alternative, which I don\u2019t think we do have.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnything that can get out there the truth, because I think the public…. You know, certainly Government and prosecutors don\u2019t realise the true scale of assaults out there for officers. I\u2019ve lost count of how many times I\u2019ve been assaulted. I\u2019m not saying these people should go to prison, but they\u2019ve pushed or shoved or whatever, and we need to record that.<\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps many officers by the time they\u2019ve got back to the nick think, \u2018It was only minor I can\u2019t be bothered to record it\u2019, or, \u2018It\u2019s not worth it\u2019. Whereas a quick, two-minute application, bish bash bosh, done.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n