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Assaults on Police

Answer

[holding answer 21 October 2008]: The available information is given in the following tables. Figures for the number of assaults without injury on a constable are taken from the police recorded crime statistics collected by the Home Office and relate to offences recorded. These figures are on a financial year basis. Assaults without injury are categories which apply specifically to the recorded crime data. If an assault on a police officer results in injury then the offence will be recorded under the appropriate wounding classification (i.e. more or less serious wounding).Prosecutions data come from the Office for Criminal Justice Reform and relate to defendants. These figures are on a calendar year basis. The data refer to prosecutions for assault on a constable which may include cases where an officer receives an injury (unlike the recorded crime data). Because of this and the fact that one dataset looks at offences and the other at defendants, the figures in the two tables are not directly comparable.

Table 1. Recorded offences of assault without injury on a constable
	Number of offences
2003-04	22,189
2004-05	23,604
2005-06	22,217
2006-07	21,749
2007-08	20,457

Table 2. Defendants proceeded against for offences of assault on a constable¹
	Number proceeded against
2002	16,371
2003	18,274
2004	19,876
2005	20,074
2006	19,118
¹ May include injury.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

482 c634-5W; 228963

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Assaults on police

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk