South Yorkshire Police officers bitten, kicked and spat at while working Christmas period
Police officers in South Yorkshire have been bitten, kicked and spat at while working over Christmas.
That was the reality faced by response officers working over the Christmas period in Doncaster as they were subjected to various attacks for simply doing their job, police chiefs havae revealed.
“Being assaulted or abused on duty is never part of a police officer's job description, yet unfortunately, it's something they face on regular occasions - and at Christmas, there is sadly no let off,” the force said.
On Boxing Day morning (Friday, December 26), two women lashed out at officers after being arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly.
The first incident saw a 19-year-old kick an officer in the leg before spitting in his face.
While being searched, she then stamped on another officer and kicked him in the shin.
Later that same morning in a separate incident, response officers bore the brunt of another woman's aggressive behaviour as an 18-year-old kicked and dug her nails into one officer before biting another officer’s hand - resulting in him having to go to hospital to have a tetanus jab.
She also kicked an officer in the face, and another two in the chest as she was arrested on suspicion of assaulting five separate officers.
Both have been bailed pending further enquiries.
On Christmas Day morning (Thursday, December 25), another officer was assaulted during an arrest.
After being detained in Doncaster city centre on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, the suspect kicked out at an arresting officer multiple times. He has since been bailed pending further enquiries.
The early hours of Saturday morning (December 27) also saw two officers attacked as they arrested a woman during a domestic incident.
She was arrested and has since been charged with assault by beating of an emergency services worker ahead of her first appearance before Doncaster Magistrates' Court next month.
Doncaster Response Chief Inspector Louise Kent said: "We will not tolerate attacks against and abuse aimed towards our officers and staff. It is completely unacceptable and sadly acts as another stark reminder of the risks officers face in their daily working lives.
"All the officers involved in these incidents are receiving appropriate welfare support and we will actively pursue justice on their behalf to reinforce our zero-tolerance message when it comes to this kind of behaviour.
“As well as the obvious physical trauma, attacks on our officers can have repercussions on their mental health and on our resourcing of incidents, with officers having to take time away from their frontline duties to receive hospital treatment.
“This in turn puts additional pressures and costs on our NHS and when there is a risk of infection, this can really impact our officers’ lives as they wait for the results and take additional steps to ensure any possible infection is not passed onto their partners or spouses.
"Officers come into work every day not knowing what they are going to face as they seek to protect our communities and keep people safe. What they should never face is physical or verbal assaults and anyone who engages in this kind of behaviour will face arrest and prosecution."