Torfaen Constituency Labour Party
Promoted by Mark Ward-Jones on behalf of the Torfaen Constituency Labour Party at 27 Brunel Road, Fairwater, Cwmbran, Torfaen NP44 4QT.
Torfaen MP says more must be done to tackle assaults on Police Officers
Nick Thomas-Symonds has called on the government to take steps to keep Police Officers safe from attacks after an event in Parliament which highlighted the shocking extent of the problem.
During the ‘Protect the Protectors’ event in Parliament Mr Thomas-Symonds met with members of the Police Federation and serving Police Officers to discuss the latest assault figures and how violence towards the police affect their ability to protect their communities.
The most recent Home Office figures on police officer assaults are for the financial year 2015/16. They show that there were approximately 23,000 assaults on Police Officers with over 200 assaults in Gwent alone.
However even this is thought to be an underestimate as the Home Office believe that many assaults go unreported. In addition some police forces do not collect data recording the total number of assaults meaning that the national figures provide an incomplete picture of the situation.
Nick Smart, chairman of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, which represents police officers said: ‘An assault on a police officer is an assault on society and more needs to be done to keep them safe. Officers accept the risk and the public also understand the dangers of the job, but the amount of assaults taking place is alarming.’
Mr Thomas-Symonds said, ‘Today’s campaign is about asking the Home Office to record all instances of assaults on officers. This will enable us to really understand the scale of the problem, and do something about it.’
