Hundreds of assaults on emergency workers in West Midlands

In 2020 police forces began to record a new category of crime - assaults without injury on emergency workers.

Latest Home Office crime figures show 594 assaults against emergency workers were recorded by West Midlands Police between March 2020 and the end of 2022.

Of these, 312 took place in 2022, and 281 the year before, with the remainder taking place from early 2020 onwards.

The offence applies to attacks on 'blue light' workers, paramedics and firefighters, along with many others, including prison officers, NHS workers, and St John’s Ambulance volunteers - but does not include police officers, who are covered by a different crime code.

John Kelly, West Midlands Ambulance Service’s head of security and safety, said there was a 'zero-tolerance' policy towards people who abuse staff.

He said: “They come to work to help people in their hour of need, so it is never appropriate for them to be abused verbally or physically; they have the right to work without fear of violence or intimidation whilst trying to help patients.

“We will always push for those who abuse our staff to be prosecuted and we will seek the toughest penalties possible if the perpetrator is convicted.

“Our ambulances have CCTV and staff now have the opportunity to wear body worn cameras.

"It is sad that we have had to go to such lengths to protect staff.

"Each time one of them is hurt and unable to work, it means they are not able to help patients, thus putting the lives of others at risk.”

The 2018 Assaults on Emergency Workers Bill came into law, imposing a maximum prison sentence of one year for common assault on an emergency worker – a sentence that was doubled in 2022.

Over the past few years 12 per cent of these crimes in West Midlands resulted in a charge.

Across England and Wales, 3,347 assaults on emergency workers were recorded in 2022, a slight rise on 3,342 the year before.

And since the crime was introduced, 34 per cent of recorded incidents have resulted in the offender being charged or summonsed.

Matt Wrack, general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, said: "People become firefighters to serve their communities and help to keep people safe. It’s appalling that firefighters should face violent attacks while doing their job.

“This is not a new problem, and in the past work has been done to address it.

"Unfortunately, sweeping cuts to the Fire and Rescue Service since 2010 have meant the end of many youth and community engagement programmes which aimed to educate and include local communities in the work that firefighters do."

Ambulance workers are also frequent victims of assault – the 2022 NHS Staff Survey found 45 per cent of paramedics had experienced violence from patients or the general public.