Suspects 'spitting on officers claiming to have coronavirus' as attacks on emergency workers rise

There has been an 'upward trend' in the number of attacks on emergency workers during lockdown, new figures have revealed.
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Attacks on emergency workers have risen by 14% - a statistic the National Police Chief's Council called 'counter intuitive since traditionally much of these assaults tend to alcohol-related and, with the closure of the night-time economy, we might have expected them to fall'.

The latest figures cover the four week period to ending 10th May 2020 and are compared with the equivalent four week period in 2019.

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The NPCC said it is thought the 14% rise 'may be driven by increases in common assaults on police constables, including suspects spitting on officers while claiming to be infected with Covid-19'.

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Police

As previously reported, the police in England and Wales recorded a total of 154,812 Covid-19 related incidents in the four weeks to the May 10.

This includes incidents where officers have proactively offered advice to people, responded to reports from the members of the public about breaches of the regulation by others and offences where criminals 'have sought to take advantage of the pandemic to commit a crime'.

Overall crime has fallen by a quarter during lockdown, it was revealed.

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The NPCC said 'the reductions have been seen in high volume crimes such as burglary, vehicle-related theft and shoplifting.'

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