Rise in the number of emergency workers assaulted in North Yorkshire
Our exclusive investigation has revealed the scale of the problem
There's been a big rise in the number of emergency workers assaulted while on duty in North Yorkshire.
There were on average 62 reports every month last year - up by nearly half compared to 2022.
Chief Inspector Rob Bowles is the chair of the police force's federation: "It's truly appalling, truly shocking. North Yorkshire Police officers are extremely professional and of course we do a job that brings us under conflict and confrontation and we do face violent situations, but it's never acceptable and it should never be seen part of as part of the job or the norm.
"There's a real vulnerability, a psychological vulnerability, particularly for cops and the type of incidents that we attend does have a profound and lasting impact upon people's psychological and physical well-being.
"We're increasingly called upon to deal with the types of incidents that would have been better dealt with further upstream by well resourced public services. For example, I think 40% of the incidents we attend involve people with mental health crises."
"Spat at and scratched"
A North Yorkshire Police spokesman said: “The assaults represented in these figures range from being spat at and scratched, all the way through to injuries requiring hospital treatment and substantial rehabilitation periods. Every single one of them is unacceptable.
“These can have a traumatic impact on the person who’s attacked, and often also affect their families.
“As a force, we have a support plan to ensure every officer or staff member who is assaulted on duty is offered the practical and emotional support they need.
“We are robust when it comes to prosecuting anyone who assaults an emergency services worker. A number of perpetrators in the past year have been given jail sentences, which now extended if the victim is a blue-light worker.
“Unfortunately this doesn’t prevent assaults, which are never acceptable or ‘just part of the job’. But we are committed to ensuring victims are fully supported, while perpetrators are dealt with to the full extent of the law.”