Coronavirus: Assaults on police officers rise in lockdown

Police forces across the UK saw a 21% increase in assaults on their officers in the first three months of lockdown.

Leicestershire Police saw the biggest rise of 102%, followed by Derbyshire Constabulary's 57% increase, while assaults on officers in South Yorkshire and Cleveland force areas were up 55%.

Figures from 31 forces show at least 7,863 assaults in the three months, compared with 6,505 in 2019.

A police chief said the increase has had "huge impacts on staff".

It comes as a recent study involving 40,000 police officers and staff showed 88% of officers said they had been assaulted during their career.

Leicestershire Police's Chief Constable Simon Cole said there was a "particularly distasteful trend" of offenders spitting and coughing on officers and threatening to infect them with coronavirus.

During the first three months of lockdown 205 officers reported being assaulted in the county - up from 101 the previous year.

Mr Cole said: "The rise in assaults has huge impacts on staff both physically and mentally, and it has a huge impact on communities.

"Thousands and thousands of days of policing are lost because of these assaults."

Some 38 offenders spat on Leicestershire Police officers in the first three months of lockdown, compared with 20 last year, the figures gathered by the PA news agency show.

Coughing also entered the offence records with 10 incidents in 2020, up from zero.

The Met Police previously released figures showing 2,027 assaults on officers were recorded between May and July, a 38% increase compared with the same period in 2019.

The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) wants suspects who spit at police to be forced to give a blood sample to test for disease.

It has also called for spit guards to be issued to all officers if supported by local risk assessments.

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