Emergency workers in Wales have made a plea to the public to treat them with respect amid a worrying rise in assaults. There were 1,421 assaults in the six-month period between January and June 2022, up from 1,396 in the same period last year representing a 1.8% increase, new figures have revealed.
Assaults ranged from slapping, scratching, spitting and verbal abuse to punching, biting, kicking and head-butting.
Seven incidents involved a weapon, and more than a quarter of assaults resulted in injury. Ahead of the Christmas party season, emergency workers are appealing to the public to treat them with respect.
In November, WalesOnline reported on the terrifying moment a man armed with a knife loomed over a defenceless police officer as she lay on the floor. Cops had been called to the house James Perry shared with his grandmother following concerns of a domestic disturbance. When told he had to leave the premises the defendant turned his anger on the two PC, grabbing one officer and lunging at her with a knife before a second officer intervened and confronted him with a taser.
Perry was later sentenced to 20 months in prison for criminal damage, Section 4 public order, threatening a person with a bladed article in a private place and assaulting an emergency worker. James Ratti, South Wales Police’s Chief Inspector of Operations in Swansea Neath Port Talbot, said: “The footage from the officers’ body worn cameras shows the dangers that officers can face at any time.
