Police officers ‘punch bags’ in ‘epidemic’ of violent attacks

Attacks on the police happen on average 100 times a day in the UK, the BBC has found. Officers say they are used to being punched and kicked, but assaults have become more frequent – and more extreme.

In September 2023, PC Stuart Furlonger was attending a low-risk call at a block of flats in Peterlee, County Durham.

As the 33-year-old attempted to escort two people from the building, a man riding a quad bike deliberately crashed into him at speed.

The “whole world was spinning” as he was thrown to the ground and noticed his leg “felt like jelly”.

He had suffered a double leg break, which required extensive surgery to fit pins and rods.

His force – Durham Constabulary – recorded the biggest rise in attacks on UK police in the three years to the end of 2023, according to figures seen by the BBC.

That came as no surprise to PC Furlonger, who has been punched and “spat at twice” while on duty.

A colleague had recently been stabbed, he said, and another had their elbow broken in an arrest, which would have been “unheard of in Durham five years ago”.

“The impact on our families is huge,” said PC Furlonger, whose mother was left “shaken” after he suffered a black eye.

“If you’re assaulting us, kicking us, stabbing us, whatever – those injuries and that trauma we have to take home.”

The BBC submitted Freedom of Information requests to every police force in the UK, which showed there were 37,786 physical assaults on the police in 2023 – an average of 103 every day and an 11% rise from 33,864 in 2021.

The numbers are expected to be even higher, because only 35 of 45 police forces provided the figures.

Durham Constabulary recorded 522 attacks on police officers in 2023, up from 111 assaults in 2021 – a 370% rise.

That is the biggest increase in the UK, but the force said officers were now being encouraged to report attacks, which would be reflected in the numbers.

The Metropolitan Police recorded 7,856 assaults last year, an average of more than 150 a week, while police in Scotland saw 5,224 attacks in 2023 – a 23% increase compared with 2021.

Over a career of 21 years, Cumbria Constabulary’s PC Ruth Coates has been “punched, kicked, spat at numerous times, headbutted and dragged along by a moving vehicle”.

One “harrowing” attack left her needing tests for Hepatitis B after a woman with the condition, who had a bleeding foot, kicked her in the mouth, she said.

But nothing could prepare her for the extreme violence she faced in November 2022.

She and a colleague were responding to a report of criminal damage in Alston when the man they were attempting to arrest attacked them.

PC Coates felt “the most excruciating pain” and realised he was “savagely biting” her arm.

Disturbing bodycam footage showed her crying out for help during the attack, which lasted several minutes.

She “immediately screamed” while also trying to help her colleague, who thought the man was “biting his finger off”.

PC Coates said without the other officer’s bravery she could have lost her arm.

Both of the police officers recovered, but the mental and physical consequences were significant.

“I did have sleepless nights after it,” PC Coates said.

“I’ve still got the scar to remind me of that every day and it does have an impact on you.”

Figures seen by the BBC show in the first five months of 2024, a police officer was attacked, on average, every day in Cumbria.

“The level of violence and how often it happens now is unprecedented,” PC Coates said.

“We don’t deserve to be attacked just because we’re wearing a uniform.”

Most of the police forces with a higher number of assaults cover major cities or large areas, but Cleveland Police in north-east England is one of the exceptions.

Its force area is the second smallest in England and Wales and serves a population of approximately 570,000 people.

In the 12 months up to the beginning of July, Cleveland recorded 860 assaults on officers, according to Supt John Wrintmore, who was shocked at the “really high numbers”.

“To put that into perspective, that’s nearly one in two of all our officers across the whole force in any single year being the victim of an assault,” he said.

“A high number of those have resulted in injuries and in some cases really serious injuries.”

Nineteen Cleveland Police officers were injured during this summer’s riots in Middlesbrough and Hartlepool, after responding to events promoted as anti-immigration protests.

PC Furlonger was called in to offer assistance in Hartlepool and came “under missile attack straight away”.

“There was a young kid, who can’t have been any more than eight or nine, and he picked up a rock, threw it at the police line and ran away,” he said.

“It was crackers.”

He called the experience surreal, and said even the most experienced officers had “never faced anything like the severity” of the violence.

Officers are starting shifts “expecting” to be attacked, according to Paul Crowley of the Police Federation of England and Wales.

He said there was a national increase in assaults on police workers, which was affecting them “physically and mentally”.

“No-one comes to work and should accept the fact they’re being assaulted.”

Officers had “effectively become a punching bag”, he said.

Police Federation chair for Cumbria Ed Russell said it was an “epidemic affecting the country”.

“As to why it’s happening, I’m afraid I can’t answer,” he said.

“These are sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, and it’s happening every day.”

The Home Office said: “Any assault on a member of the police workforce is a criminal offence.

“Those convicted of assaulting an emergency worker can face up to two years’ imprisonment, with escalating sentences for more serious incidents.”