Police Federation calls for stronger deterrent as 'scary' and 'horrendous' figures show rise in emergency worker attacks in Hampshire

Home Office data reveals Hampshire Constabulary recorded 1,608 assaults in the year to March – most victims were police constables.

This rose from 1,328 in 2020-2021, and several cases involved injuries.

Zoe Wakefield, Hampshire Police Federation chair, said a lack of resources, lenient sentences, and negative media stories about a minority of officers, are all to blame for the rise.

She told The News: ‘It’s not surprising but very worrying that assaults are going up year on year.

‘The rising figures make you wonder when it is going to end.

‘You look across the country at how many officers are being assaulted every day and it’s just scary, horrendous, and completely unacceptable.’

‘We accept we have to go into violent situations as part of the job, but we do not accept the level of abuse we are subjected too.’

The data includes 1,108 assaults on officers without injury, 386 with injury, and 114 on other emergency workers.

Of the 1,355 investigations in Hampshire which concluded last year, 55 per cent resulted in a charge or summons – down from 65 per cent in 2020-2021.

The maximum sentence for attacking an emergency worker doubled from 12 months to two years in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Ms Wakefield thinks the current system is not stringent enough.

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She said: ‘Cases are being dropped before they go to court, and offenders are receiving too lenient sentences.

‘We are rarely seeing offenders receiving custodial sentences.

‘Currently, the message is you can assault an emergency worker and nothing will really happen to you.’

Ms Wakefield added that negative individual stories does not give a good perception of forces’ nationally, when ‘99.9 per cent are extremely hard working, professional, and have the highest levels of honesty and integrity.’

Resourcing was also highlighted as a major concern, with Hampshire Constabulary not always having enough people to support colleagues in violent situations.

This is despite former prime minister Boris Johnson’s 2019 pledge to bring in 20,000 new recruits.

Ms Wakefield said because all new officers need to have a degree, they are ‘there on paper’ but cannot ‘be deployed as an experienced officer’ until their course is completed.

Fresh recruits, completing a two-year diploma in professional policing practice – if they already have a degree – or a three-year equivalent course, spend 20 per cent of hours on university work.

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The police chair said this mandatory requirement is a ‘huge barrier’, and the first intake in September 2020 will not be full time until 2023.

She said more officers would improve things, but without appropriate punishments, figures will continue to rise.

‘Officers have the tools they need, but there needs to be a bigger deterrent for assaulting emergency workers,’ she added.

‘We don’t feel as police officers we are treated the same as other victims who go through the criminal justice process.’

Paul Bartolomeo, Hampshire Constabulary assistant chief constable, said verbal or physical towards police officers ‘will not be tolerated’, and they will be continually supported.

He added: ‘Police officers who patrol our local communities and respond to calls for help do so with the primary objective of keeping people safe.

‘One attack on a police officer is one too many.’