Police in NI more likely to ‘wait to be assaulted’ before using force – Boutcher
Police in Northern Ireland are more likely to “wait to be assaulted” when dealing with threats than officers in other areas, Jon Boutcher has said.
The PSNI Chief Constable said officers “should use force when it’s necessary to do so” as they will be supported by the force.
Mr Boutcher was responding at the Policing Board following recent incidents where seven officers were injured at music events in Belfast.
DUP board member Keith Buchanan asked if a culture had grown up where people treat the police with “contempt”.
He said: “If someone can go from behind and kick a police officer for no reason, I hope the full force of the law is on that individual.
“Is the police service afraid to defend themselves, (are) police officers afraid to defend themselves?”
Mr Boutcher said he had been in touch with all the seven injured officers and told the board they were fine.
He said: “What I have found here, and there is a context here around the history in Northern Ireland, that the level of assaults against police officers in the PSNI is far and above what I’ve experienced elsewhere in policing.”
He added: “I think there is something in Northern Ireland, and I’m not an academic….where police officers here, in my experience, which is fairly considerable now, are more likely to wait to be assaulted before taking action to restrain or deal with a threat in certain conditions.
“Whereas police officers, in my experience, where I’ve worked before, are more likely to take a proactive stance in dealing with a threat.”
“Now that’s not in every case, but I think it comes to the fact of this being a very human rights-based organisation.”
The Chief Constable said society had to “stand up for and advocate for policing”.
He added: “When people do assault police officers, there has to be a significant deterrent.
“When I’ve looked at cases, individuals who assaulted police officers will have, and it’s not unusual to have 20 or more assaults against police officers.
“Those individuals have got to face a significant deterrent when that happens.”
Mr Buchanan responded: “Would you say that the police officers are more concerned about others’ human rights than their own?”
Mr Boutcher said officers had to make decisions based on circumstances.
He added: “They know we’ll support them, so they can use all the powers at their disposal, and they can use force and should use force when it’s necessary to do so, and they’ll be supported because they are trained properly to use force.
“It’s the last thing we should ever do because we’ve got the ability to de-escalate things because they’re so well trained and they’re so outstanding.
“But they know they’ll be supported when force needs to be used, and that’s what we’ve been very clearly ensuring they appreciate in recent years.”