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One attack on officers every day as Thin Blue Line is stretched
ATTACKS on police are happening on an almost daily basis as South Yorkshire officers are left stretched and vulnerable due to a dwindling number available to respond to emergencies, the Police Federation has claimed.
The organisation believes the diversion of officers from frontline duties to staff neighbourhood policing and special investigation units - along with having to tackle an “inordinate burden” of paperwork - has left those called to incidents at greater risk.
Insp Bob Pitt, chair of the Police Federation’s South Yorkshire branch, said: “We are playing with the safety of response team officers. We need sufficient numbers to be able to stamp their authority on situations they are called to.”
Figures being presented to a meeting of South Yorkshire Police Authority this week revealed there were 1,612 incidents from 2001 to 2006 where officers were injured through assaults, violent arrests or struggles with suspects.
The annual toll has risen slightly during the same period, from 306 incidents to 334. Statistics are not yet available for 2006/7.
Sgt Peter Hilton, of Upperthorpe and Hillsborough Safer Neighbourhood Team, is recovering after suffering serious leg injuries during a struggle with a suspect, while another officer was beaten in a city centre bar. Insp Pitt said: “A major concern is we are seeing fewer police on response duties, while officers are spending inordinate amounts of time on paperwork.”
Insp Pitt said that, in recent years, the bureaucratic burden has been increased through changes introduced by the Government, such as police having to spend hours preparing paperwork for the Crown Prosecution Service.
He added that the creation of Safer Neighbourhood Teams, which provide community policing, along with specialist units to tackle different types of crimes, has caused further problems by diverting officers from traditional response duties.Insp Pitt said: “There has been a fundamental shift in policing styles, while uniformed duty groups are getting so threadbare there are precious few officers left and they are often overstretched.
“A shortage of officers means they face an increased risk when responding to incidents due to lack of numbers.”
Insp Pitt welcomed improvements in protection for officers, such as body armour and gas sprays, but added: “We have lost sight of the fact we still need to have a core of police who are available to do what they always have done: responding to emergency incidents.”
Inspector Shaun Morley, of South Yorkshire Police personnel department, said: “There will always be a degree of risk for officers working on the frontline and so it is expected a small number of these officers will be injured, despite every effort to ensure their safety and security.”Badly beaten in the line of duty
RECUPERATING at home after being injured in a struggle with a suspect in Sheffield, Sgt Peter Hilton is one of the latest victims of the shocking tide of violence against the police.
The officer, one of hte Upperthorpe and Hills-borough Safer Neighbourhood Team, was left on the ground in agony with a dislocated knee and tendon and ligament damage in an incident in St Philip's Road, Nether-thorpe, a fortnight ago.
He spent days in hospital and is still recovering.
In the last month eight police officers have been attacked in South Yorkshire, says the Police Federation.
One officer was threatened with a lump of rock and was scratched by a suspect.
Another suffered a cut lip and black eye, trying to arrest a drink-drive suspect.
A violent prisoner in custody bit an officer, and another policeman suffered finger and back injuries.
Insp Bob Pitt, of the Police Federation, also told of an incident last year at a Sheffield city bar, where two officers, one a woman, were attacked when they were the first to reach a disturbance.
"They had to intervene straight away. The male officer was knocked to the ground and was being kicked and punched.
"His colleague grabbed him by his body armour and dragged him into the ladies' toilets where she radioed for back-up. She suffered a black eye when she had a glass thrown in her face."
An officer had nine teeth teeth broken when he was headbutted as he tried to stop a fight in Barnsley .
Insp Pitt said: "It makes you wince to think about it. It's quite appalling for something like that to happen to a police officer who is supposed to be a figure of authority."
Each year, a few officers have to leave because of injuries. The number of injuries from attacks on police in South Yorkshire has risen, but overall incidents where officers were injured fell from 761 a year in 2001/2 to 734 in 2005/6.
The number of days off taken by injured police in the county has fluctuated. In 2001/2, 2,290 days were lost, falling to 1,173 in 2003/4 but rising to 1,928 in 2005/6.
South Yorkshire Police said the number of injuries reported to the Health and Safety Executive fell from 115 in 2000/01 to 59 in 2005/6.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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