A police officer has recalled being punched so hard to the head that she lost consciousness at an event in west Belfast.
Inspector Roisin Brown said the incident left her with post-concussion syndrome and unable to return to work for three weeks, as well as initial nervousness about dealing with the public for a time after that.
Sergeant Mark Young also recalled a serious assault he suffered, and said it has become a “normal part of society in Northern Ireland”, adding that he would like to see tougher sentencing for all attacks on police.
Ms Brown said every police officer experiences being assaulted.
“Every single day I come into work and I review the previous 24 hours activities, and someone has been assaulted,” she said.
“One of my neighbourhood officers broke his foot four weeks ago at an interface, trying to arrest somebody.
“I actually think assaults are becoming more serious and injuries are becoming more serious, broken bones, people losing consciousness, and then you have the everyday run-of-the-mill assaults that no one really talks about.”
Ms Brown said any police officer, particularly one in uniform, will regularly come across incidents where they are likely to be assaulted or hurt on duty, from attending a traffic incident, to a domestic, to having to restrain or arrest someone who is violent.
“I know that in my personal experience, I’ve had multiple low-level assaults that are just never reported, and it just comes with the job until something really serious happens, which happened last year to me,” she said.
She said she had been the supervisor at a large event in west Belfast last August when a young man was evicted from the event, and was trying to fight with members of the public.
“So I jumped in to restrain him, and he turned round in a split second and hit me very hard to the side of my head and knocked me out for a short period of time,” she said.
“Then I had to terminate duty and go to hospital, and get X-rayed and treated.
“Everyone knows that the police go into difficult situations all the time but I think something that serious was quite shocking for me and really disappointing where I was working at a concert and trying to keep people safe.”
She said when she returned to work after three weeks, she felt nervous around people for a few weeks.
“I made a point of going out immediately but I sensed a nervousness within myself, I would have been very conscious of looking where people’s hands were or what their body movements were, their demeanour, making sure I had a big interval gap between me and any members of the public, but that had gone away and I am fine now,” she said.
Mr Young, who is based in Fermanagh, recalled entering a cell out of concern for a man who was trying to self harm, and coming under attack with multiple blows to the head which left him with “no clue where I was”.
The person responsible received a community service order.
“Myself and a female civilian detention officer went to try and assist him, he turned on a sixpence, became very violent, exceptionally aggressive and punched violently 14-15 times to the head, kneed twice to the side of the head, which whilst it didn’t render me unconscious thankfully, I had no clue where I was, and he calmly walked out of the cell and slammed the door shut with me still inside,” he said.
“I was left with a black eye and bruising to the top, back and side of my head which was the physical aspect of it.
“The mental aspect of it was that it happened on Mothering Sunday, I had to go home to my wife and two young children, and they weren’t expecting to see me like that. The mental scarring that they have also has an impact on them.
“I would like to see greater sentencing for assaults on police, even at the lowest of levels.
“The gentleman concerned in respect of my assault only received a community service order, and I did receive a lot of support from colleagues and members of the public in respect to the low sentencing that was offered to him.”
