Blood 'spat into faces of police officers' in 'disturbing' alleged incident at hospital
Two police officers had blood "spat into their face and eyes" in a "disturbing" attack, as a police chief warned the threat of assault is "ever-present".
The two West Midlands Police officers, responding to reports of someone in distress, were reportedly attacked when dealing with a man who needed to be taken to Dudley's Russell's Hall Hospital on Monday.
He is said to have spat blood in the face and eyes of the both officers as they responded to calls of a man who was self-harming.
Chair of the West Midlands Police Federation, Richard Cooke, has described the alleged attack as "disturbing" and "nasty", and said officers were trying to restrain the man "for his own safety" when they were targeted.
"I just wanted to highlight this because it's not the worst fatal injury but it's the mental affect of those sorts of incidents," he said. "It's something very difficult for these officers to come to terms with."
Mr Cooke recalled arresting a suspect with a head injury after a fight when he head-butted the officer, leading to a "sort of scuffle where a lot of blood from him went into my face and mouth".
He added: "He had a contagious marker for hepatitis so then I had to spend the night in A&E and I had to have this drug protocol – it's an insurance policy because the chances are unlikely but for the next three months I had to have a series of tests to make sure nothing had come in my blood and you obviously have to limit your personal interactions."
Speaking about the dangers faced by officers, Mr Cooke added: "We are averaging about 300 assaults a month and about 10 per cent of those are what we would describe as a serious injury, either psychologically or physically but the majority is physical. It ranges from everything to broken limbs, black eyes, cuts, bits, spitting is a real one that's coming up in the past 10 years. You wonder what is going on in society when so many officers are spat at."
He also called for more investment in policing, not only for training officers but to help those who are "really stretched".
"Training is always going to be beneficial but it's about the quality of training, and historically, the quality of training has gone really through the floor. It's all online tests and it's not done in an engaging way. I think we need investment in proper training and training that is tested so we can make sure officers get something from it. That's certainly an area that has suffered gross under-investment in the last 10 years or so.
"Welfare is the force's responsibility – we want to promote a healthy lifestyle. We think exercise is very helpful for mental health but it's making sure officers have the time to do exercise and reflect but they don't because unfortunately it's full-on. Officers on the front end are really stretched."
A spokesman for West Midlands Police confirmed there had been an incident, saying they were called to Pensnett, at 6.40pm on Monday 31 July to reports of a man in distress.
"While at the scene two officers were spat at," the spokesman said.
"A man was taken to hospital where he is currently receiving treatment. Our enquiries are continuing."
