Plea for Tasers as Number of Assaults on PSNI Officers Reaches Five-Year High

The Police Federation said the figures showed it was essential that Tasers are rolled out to all frontline officers.

A number of officers have spoken anonymously about violent attacks they have suffered while on duty.

PSNI statistics showed that assaults with injury have increased year-on-year from 516 for the period April 2018 to March 2019, to 911 for the period April 2021 to March 2022.

From April 2022 to this year to date, there have been 923 assaults.

Assistant chief constable Bobby Singleton said officers being spat on, kicked, punched and bitten is not part of their job.

He said: “Our officers are sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.

“They are public servants, but they’re not punch bags.”

Last weekend, six police officers were assaulted in Strabane, three of them female.

One of these officers said during her 15 years of service she has been assaulted around a dozen times, from being spat at to being kicked.

She said she has also been threatened with violence including having glass bottles waved in her face, along with verbal abuse.

The officer said: “I would ask them to remember we are human beings as well. We have families too, and we’re doing our job. We don’t deserve to be assaulted.”

Mr Singleton said: “Unfortunately it’s not unique and, increasingly, we see our officers exposed to attacks, assaults and acts of violence.

“We are facing a different type of demand now. It’s no longer just conventional crime that we deal with. We deal with extremely complex issues, issues around vulnerability, which we are regrettably forced into trying to resolve. In doing so, at times, officers are exposed to serious risk.”

During one week in January of this year, 43 police officers were assaulted.

One of the officers sustained a dislocated knee.

He said: “I didn’t join the police to be assaulted, to break a limb or to be spat on.”

Another officer, based in Mid Ulster, said a violent incident was enough to make her consider leaving the job.

She was dealing with a man arrested in relation to a road traffic collision who became violent.

He put his hands around her neck and tried to strangle her before punching her, leaving her with facial injuries.

She said: “It’s a lot easier to talk about now but, at the time, I felt embarrassed as this was just a regular call.

“I wanted to join the police since I was 16, but I wanted to leave after that happened.”

Another officer said he was punched in the face and left with injuries requiring major dental work just 10 months after graduating from training college.

Mr Singleton said: “Our ask is that the role of officers, the professionalism and restraint they show in what can be really dangerous circumstances, and the work they do on a daily basis to keep people safe, is not taken for granted and that assaults on officers should never be seen as acceptable.”

Police Federation for Northern Ireland chairman, Liam Kelly, said: “Assaults are now at epidemic levels.

“On average seven officers are assaulted every single day as they go about the task of safeguarding this entire community.

“Violent, thuggish behaviour involving vicious physical attacks must be addressed.

“In my book, that means giving officers access to the tools to protect both themselves and victims caught up in violent outbursts.

“Taser is a proven deterrent. It makes the would-be attacker think twice and in many instances, a violent confrontation is averted because of its presence, thus minimising the risk of potential serious assault and injury to our officers.”