Hampshire Constabulary's chief constable has issued a stark warning, stating that anyone targeting his officers and their families with "threats to life and harm" could face prosecution.
Alexis Boon revealed his force is contending with an "incredible" level of abuse, which has escalated both online and during recent disorder in Southampton following the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa for the murder of Henry Nowak.
Mr Boon asserted that these "threats and violence" are being used to "forward their agenda" by exploiting an "appalling tragedy".
He confirmed the force's commitment to investigating all online abuse that includes "threats to life and threats to harm".
Mr Boon told the Press Association: “What people don’t see and don’t understand is that because of the divisive rhetoric out there, innocent police officers across my force are being targeted with threats, (and) their families, (with) social media abuse.
“It is quite incredible, it is totally unacceptable. We’re investigating it, but it is a symptom of people using an absolute appalling tragedy to forward their agenda and to make unacceptable threats.”
He added: “We’re investigating, but I think people don’t really appreciate sometimes the fact that honest, decent police officers have been targeted for the fact they are police officers.
“We need our police officers to have confidence to police our communities.
“We’re looking after and supporting our people, but it is absolutely unacceptable at this time.”
Mr Boon praised the “brave” manner his officers dealt with the disorder in the Portswood area, close to where Mr Nowak died, during which two people were arrested, and said further arrests would follow as investigations continue.
He said: “Last night, many people will have seen the unacceptable scenes of violence and behaviour that played out across the streets of Southampton.
“We put in place a strong and robust policing response. My officers bravely dealt with the disturbance, despite the fact they came under fire from missiles and projectiles. We made two arrests.
“There will be more following the post-incident investigation.
“But I think they were composed, professional and did a great job protecting the communities.”
In a message to local residents, he said: “I do realise that local communities will feel anxious about what they saw.
“I just want to reassure them that we’re there to protect them.
“They will see a strong and visible presence out and about on the streets of Southampton and across the city.
“For those that came down to cause trouble, we are continuing to monitor the intelligence and we will continue to step up resources commensurate to the threat that we face.”
Responding to allegations of “two-tier policing”, Mr Boon said: “I don’t recognise two-tier policing. I don’t see it.
“My officers are out there day-in, day-out, serving all our communities fairly and impartially, very much in accordance with our founding principles – without fear or favour. I don’t recognise it, I think officers are working hard for all communities.”
On possible changes to the policing commitment guidance on policing people of different races, he said: “The National Police Chiefs’ Council are welcoming views on that and then we’ll, of course, consider those and make adaptions as necessary.
“We’re very much linked in with the national process and of course, we’re reviewing and looking at our own policies internally.”
Mr Boon said that the investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) into the handling of the incident involving Mr Nowak would look at possible changes to police training and procedures.
He said: “One of the things that the independent investigation by the IOPC is looking at is learning, particularly from the incident, having examined all the evidence, all the context, accounts of officers.
“So we are very much looking at understanding where we can do better, where we can learn from the incident.
“But let me be really fundamentally clear about the incident itself – we have said how sorry we are that he was handcuffed and arrested. We get it.
“We understand why people are upset by what they’ve seen but what we would ask is people to respect due process, to let the IOPC conduct their investigation and not to use it as an excuse to bring violence to the streets of Southampton or anywhere else in this country.”
In a message to Mr Nowak’s family, he added: “I want to say to the family, we understand, we get it, we know why they are so distraught and upset, which is why we made the apologies.
“It is a tragedy from start to finish and I’m really pleased to see that the killer was sentenced to life imprisonment.
“Our officers conducted an investigation that resulted in that. I’m hopeful that is some degree of comfort for the families, but they will, as they have been saying, be dealing with this for the rest of their lives.
“I’m very sorry they’re having to go through this and we do understand why they are upset with the police. We completely get it.”
Mr Boon added that any changes to the law surrounding religious exemptions for the carrying of knives was a matter for Parliament which sets the law.
He said: “It was very clear for us in these circumstances that when that knife was drawn and used in the murder, it was an offensive weapon at that time, which is why he was convicted, the killer, with possession of an offensive weapon as well as committing the murder.”
