More than 1,000 assaults on Sussex Police officers in the last year

Thursday, 5 August 2021 07:00

New data from the Home Office says there has been 1,235 assaults on a constable in Sussex up until the end of March 2021

The number includes recorded counts of assault with injury on a constable and assault without injury on a constable and was published by the Office of National Statistics.

It's also the fourth year that the classification with injury has been reported in the figures, which have also reached their four year high for Sussex.

Across the force, there were 321 reports from police recorded crime relating to assault without injury up until March 2021, with 914 recorded for assault with injury.

Nationally 25,734 were crimes of “assault without injury on a constable” were recorded across all forces - an increase of 21% compared with 21,321 in the previous year

Meanwhile 11,235 crimes of “assault with injury on a constable” were recorded across all forces (including British Transport Police) - a small increase of 1.2% compared with 11,106 in the previous year.

Responding to the figures, Police Federation of England and Wales National Chair John Apter, says "throughout the pandemic we have witnessed police officers being subjected to a disgusting level of violence. We now have the figures to prove just how dire the situation has been for my colleagues on the ground.

“More than 100 of my colleagues are assaulted every single day, that’s a staggering number and something society must not accept. Many of these recorded attacks involve vile individuals who have spat on or coughed at police officers, weaponising the virus and threatening to spread it to them and their families."

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