Too often our people simply accept verbal or physical abuse as part of their job

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Organisational Development & Wellbeing, Deputy Chief Constable Andy Rhodes said:

“The National Police Chiefs’ Council fully support the work being done to raise the issue of assaults on police officers and staff. All too often our people simply accept the unacceptable as part of their job but we want to make it 100% clear that any assault, verbal or physical is totally unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

“We are still seeing some recording differences between forces and this is an area which must be addressed so that there is a consistent standard everyone can understand and adopt. We need prosecutors and courts to take a similar approach and this is being promoted through each force and it’s local criminal justice partners. These figures shed light on a growing problem and we need to tackle before it escalates any further. Our frontline staff are well trained, well equipped and resilient and whilst serious assaults are still quite rare one assault is one too much.”

The full report can be viewed here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539200/hosb0516-assaults.pdf