Third of police officers threatened with spit by Covid-positive members of public, report shows

Concerns raised over ‘weaponisation’ of virus

Some 30 per cent of police officers have reported members of the public who claim to have coronavirus threatening to spit at them in the last six months, according to new research.

The astonishing figures – revealed in a survey of around one in 10 rank-and-file officers by the Police Federation of England and Wales – have sparked concerns about the potential spread of the virus being used as a weapon.

Thirty-two per cent of officers also said someone “who they believed to have Covid-19” threatened to breathe or cough on them, while 21 per cent reported that a member of the public, also believed to have the virus, actually had spat at them.  

Meanwhile, just over half (55 per cent) of officers reported they had been the victim of an unarmed physical attack in the past year and 16 per cent said they had suffered injuries requiring medical attention.

The chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, John Apter said, the survey “clearly shows the huge pressure officers are under policing the pandemic and the negative impact on their welfare”.  

“The results of this survey have come directly from our members – those police officers who are on the front line dealing with whatever society throws at them,” he said on Thursday.  

“The increasing level of violence they face, especially involving the ‘weaponising’ of the virus, is a sad indictment of the society we live in.”

A total of 12,471 officers provided useable responses to the survey, from a total Police Federation membership of more than 120,000 from the rank of constable to chief inspector.

The so-called Demand, Capacity and Welfare Survey was carried out between 5 October and 23 November 2020 last year.

Mr Apter is one of  several police leaders pushing the government for frontline officers to get priority access to Covid-19 vaccines.

“They must be given all the protection they need to protect themselves and this includes being prioritised for the Covid vaccine. We have had enough of the warm words; we now need action,” he said earlier.  

Last week, Britain’s most senior police chief Dame Cressida Dick said she had been left “baffled” by ministers’ decision not to prioritise police officers for Covid vaccines despite her repeated calls to ministers.

During a phone-in on LBC, the Metropolitan Police commissioner said: “In many other countries, police officers and law enforcement colleagues are being prioritised and I want my officers to get the vaccine. I am baffled really.”

Dame Cressida also said that in London alone almost 150 officers had been spat or coughed at by people claiming they had coronavirus: “We’ve had 97 occasions where somebody has either mentioned or threatened Covid, and then coughed. 

“We’ve had 48 [occasions] where they’ve spat. We’ve charged 126 people with that and nearly two-thirds of them have got custodial sentences.”

On Tuesday, Met Police, the UK’s biggest force, said that five officers had died with Covid-19 in the past two weeks.

Additional reporting by PA