A police office who received homophobic abuse after arresting a suspect says he has been the target of vile behaviour repeatedly in his line of work. A new policing documentary, which aired on Channel 4 on Tuesday, July 12, documented the abuse UK police officers go through on the job and it was highlighted by first hand accounts and body cam footage.
Within the first five minutes of the Brighton-set programme, police officer Ben set out the grim relaity of day-to-day policing currently. He said: "If you think this uniform is something that commands respect, you need to think again. It's the in thing at the moment that as soon as the police turn up to an incident, mobile phones come out. They then post it on social media 'look at what this police officer's done'. People just don't trust us."
Police officer Jack added: "We are told do not wear your uniform to work, because people will try to hurt you." During in the documentary, police officers Jack and Sophie attended an actual bodily harm case, and both got both physically and verbally assaulted by the suspect. Jack got punched in the face and Sophie's nail was completely ripped off.
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Jack was then homophobically assaulted and when in custody, the suspect spat at another officer. The man was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison. Speaking about his ordeal, Jack said: "It's not the first time I've been assaulted, and I hate to say it, but it's probably not going to be the last. I went through a stage where it happened repeatedly over a couple of months and it does get to you.
"You sit there and you wonder, is it me? You question yourself, you question is it me as a person, am I just irritating? And then, you question your ability as a police officer, am I not doing my job properly? It can really get to you."
Sophie, the other officer on the scene, added: "I think it would be unfair to say that the only people who hate the police are criminals or the people we're dealing with because I think it's far greater than that. There's just been a big culture shift and people are very reluctant to trust us.
"Only yesterday, I went to a job and asked somebody to let me in the communal door to go and help someone and they refused and walked away. It's little things like that when you think 'would that have happened 20 years ago?'"
Abuse from the public is not the only traumatic challenge the programme highlighted that officers have to deal with in their job. Officer Sophie highlighted just how many suicidal people she has had to deal with during her short time with the force.
"We have a lot of young people who are struggling with their mental health. I think being a police officer now is like being a social worker. I'm only 26 and I've probably dealt with at least 300 suicidal people."
You can also catch up with episode one of Night Coppers on 4oD.
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