Merseyside Police chief tells court aggression faced by officers ‘unprecedented’

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The level of aggression directly aimed at Merseyside Police officers in a week of widespread public disorder is “unprecedented”, the force’s Chief Constable has told a court.

Serena Kennedy provided a community impact statement which was read out to the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary KC, before he jailed three men on Wednesday for violent disorder in Southport on July 30 and in Liverpool city centre on August 3.

She told Liverpool Crown Court: “The level of aggression that I witnessed which was directly aimed at my officers on the nights of 30th July, as well as 2nd and 3rd August is unprecedented.

“It was horrifying to see but the officers did an excellent job in pursuance of their primary aim to keep our communities safe.

“Specifically in relation to the instances of violent disorder from 30th July onwards, 93 officers have been injured with more injuries being assessed daily.

“Examples of injuries to officers are both legs fractured, teeth knocked out, broken jaw and many other wide-ranging wounds.

“I have personally spoken to many of the attacked officers who have reported the existence of psychological symptoms that are having a significant impact along with their physical injuries.

“It has been shocking to hear of the impact that policing the events of the last week has had on them.

“Some have been waking up in the night with panic attacks whilst others have described the fear they felt whilst deployed to the disorder that they may not return home safely to their families.

“A number of victims have expressed their disbelief that officers have not been killed as a result of the appalling scenes of violence they have faced.

“However, many injured officers have returned to office-based work on restricted duties because they are so committed to the communities of Merseyside and their colleagues.

“Not only have police officers and staff been injured but also police dogs deployed as a response to the violent scenes.

“The impact of this violent disorder on the dog section has been six dog teams are now not fit to perform a policing role.

“A team consists of dog and police handler.

“Three officers remained off sick injured, and three dogs are still not deployable through injury.

“This has made a significant impact on the department’s overall capability to function.

“I also wish to highlight the fact that due to some social media posts, and indeed the hate crimes that have occurred within the last week, some of my officers and staff, and understandably their families, fear for their safety and that is impacting on their ability to serve the communities of Merseyside.”

Ms Kennedy said it had been necessary to deploy more than 150 officers from Merseyside and between 75 and 125 officers from other forces each day since July 31.

She said dedicating that level of resource to the violent disorder and the threat of it “will undoubtedly start to have an impact on the service delivery to our communities who we are so proud to serve”.

A full investigation team is working on the murders of the three young girls in Southport and the attempted murders of 10 other people, she said, along with a team of 55 staff probing the events of violent disorder with the assistance of specialist investigators and digital media officers.

Ms Kennedy said: “This means that regrettably we are taking staff away from investigating other crimes reported by our communities which is affecting the timeliness of the outcomes.

“Although we are doing everything to minimise this it is going to impact on the service deserved by those victims of crime; the court will be mindful of the mantra that ‘justice delayed’ is ‘justice denied’.

“The cost to policing is immense at a time when the force has a budget shortfall of £21 million already, not to mention the impact on the wellbeing of the officers and staff who work for Merseyside Police.”