Assaults on police are unacceptable.
Action is needed.
Police officers play a vital role in maintaining the safety of our communities. Yet every day, 9 officers across Northern Ireland are assaulted while doing their job.
The Police Federation for Northern Ireland is calling for greater protection, stronger laws and more support for the officers who play a vital role in protecting the community. The public has every right to expect officers to be there when they need them most.
Unfortunately, fewer officers lead to reduced ability and when we need almost 2,300 more officers to match our population, there’s a worrying inevitability that outcomes will suffer.
Decisive and tough sentences handed down by Magistrates and Judges will deter those who assault our police officers. Sentencing guidelines must be strengthened to empower the Courts, to implement an effective deterrent.
We want our communities to ‘Let Them Protect’, to condemn perpetrators, to empathise with our officers and understand the consequences for them and their families when they are unable to be at work and perform their duties due to being assaulted.
Our officers are dedicated to their job in serving the public and do not deserve to be assaulted whilst doing their job.
In a shrinking Service, our colleagues want to remain on duty but have to take time out to recover. That leaves fewer officers to patrol, prevent crime, deal with disorder and criminality and offer help to victims.
Assaults on Police hurt the community.
Assaults stop officers doing their jobs to protect the community.
let them protect.
Assaults take many forms.
PHYSICAL
Officers will often face physical assault while on duty protecting the community.
This can take the form of verbal aggression, physical aggression, a punch or kick, use of a weapon including a severe physical attack leading to significant and long lasting injuries, both physical and psychological.
This can include lacerations, bruising, broken bones and injuries which impair motor skills/ consciousness.
“The day before that headbutting I had actually been kicked in the body armour dealing with a different male.”
vehicle ramming
Vehicle ramming is a deliberate act where an offender uses a car or other vehicle to strike a police car while officers are inside, often during traffic stops or while parked.
These attacks are sudden, calculated and extremely dangerous, with the potential to cause serious injury or death. Officers are often caught off-guard with limited ability to evade the impact.
“Offenders are, in essence, using their vehicle as a weapon against us.”
spitting/Biting
Spitting is a degrading and deliberate act that carries significant health risks, including the transmission of infectious diseases.
Police officers should never face being bitten or spat on while protecting the community. It is completely unacceptable and comes with physical and psychological harm, particularly when blood is present.
Officers will often face medical tests and treatment with medication as they await the results of blood tests. This can be distressing for the officer and their family.
“I have been punched, spat at, kicked, bitten. I’ve had lorries and cars driven at me.”
the figures
Police recorded crime statistics detail the worrying numbers of assaults on our officers year on year.
In 2024/2025 there were 2810 recorded assaults on police officers, 881 of these involved injury (this was a 9.9% decrease from 2023/2024 and the first yearly reduction since 2018/2019).
However, in the last three years in NI there has been a cumulative total of 9415 assaults, 2826 of these involving some form of injury.
Between 2017-2024 the recorded figures shockingly show that there are an average of 9 assaults every day on officers (63 per week)
