Last year, 42 Royal Gibraltar Police officers were assaulted while on the job and required medical attention and time off work due to injuries, the RGP said on Tuesday.
The figure means that 48% of officers who dealt with violent incidents or suspects resisting arrest last year were assaulted, a sharp increase on comparable data in preceding years.
In 2019, 24% of officers dealing with resistant suspects were assaulted, with the figure dropping to 18% in 2020 during the Covid period. The figure again rose to 24% in 2021, and to 41% in 2022.
The number is even starker given that out of a 250-strong force, the frontline contingent working in police response teams amounts to some 90 officers at any one time.
Paul Chiara, an RGP Sergeant who is also the lead use of force trainer, revealed the statistics during a Public and Personal Training (PPST) course for RGP recruits on Tuesday.
“Part of my role is that I govern the use of force locally,” he told the Chronicle.
“By law, police officers need to record the use of force. They fill up a 21-question survey.”
These 21 questions are where statistics on assaults on police and injuries are derived from.
“These could be things like sprains, cracks, breaks, and bites.”
“Bites are something which we come across unfortunately, and it is not just the physical tear on your skin, but the medical implications of contracting diseases and illnesses because of bites.”
“And that's what police officers are faced with.”
“The reality is, violent crime is not something we deal with a lot thankfully, but violence towards police is on the rise.”
Such incidents are why RGP recruits go through the PPST course as part of their police training.
“The recruit school comes to me for that aspect of their training, it is a pass or fail course which they need to do.”
“It's a seven-day course which revolves around the appropriate use of force.”
“PPST is where we teach police officers the correct use of tactics, equipment, and legislation to be able to safely restrain a suspect or member of the public in the most safe and ethical way.”
“Because everyone has to be treated with dignity and we have to preserve their rights as well.”
He added that the use of force “is a last resort”.
The training course focuses its first two days on being able to communicate with suspects and members of the public.
This includes understanding stress indicators, mental health indicators, de-escalation tactics, tactical communication models, and various ways of how high stress and dopamine affects the mind.
“When a member of the public comes in contact with the police, they are not in the best state of mind, more often than not,” Mr Chiara said.
“They have gone through some kind of traumatic experience, something's happened, and that's without adding drugs or alcohol to the mix.”
“Something has happened in order for the police to be involved. That already changes the way in which people think.”
The course then goes onto its physical aspects such as physical restraints, mechanical restraints, strikes, take-downs, and pressure points.
“There is an array of tactics which we teach officers to be able to safely restrain a person.”
“Ultimately, everyone asks why do we use force? What is force used for?”
“Force is not used to punish, it is not used as a fine.”
“Simply put, force is used to gain compliance.”
“The law is very clear, there are times where a member of the public or a suspect is obliged by law to comply to directions given by a police officer.”
“It can be something as simple as 'you are under arrest, accompany me back to the station'.”
“If a person does not wish to comply, the police officer at the time may deem it appropriate to use force to get that compliance, and that is why police officers use force.”
Part of the training involves the use of captor spray, to which the recruits are introduced in order to understand its effects firsthand.
All Response Team officers in the force carry the spray, which is used as a non-lethal piece of protective equipment to be used against violent offenders or those resisting arrest.
The effects of the spray are an immediate loss of vision, short-term pain and extreme discomfort, with symptoms that last for around 30 minutes.
No permanent damage is caused and no medical treatment is needed.
Mr Chiara said this is done so that the recruits also know how to care for a suspect who has been sprayed in order to carry out relevant care.
“The other reason is to experience how bad the pain is, as the likelihood of officers being exposed to cross-contamination is quite high.”
“This way the officers get to feel what the effects will be like in case they are accidentally sprayed, so that they don’t start panicking and they know how to take care of themselves whilst other officers can take care of the suspects.”
Mr Chiara told the Chronicle that, last year, force was used by RGP officers 344 times out of 1651 arrests, which accounts for 21% of the total arrests made.
Suspects sustained injuries as a result of force on 18 occasions.
“Considering the fact that with any use of force the risk of injury is always there, I don't believe there is a problem with the tactics in which we are deploying, or in the manner we are deploying them,” Mr Chiara said.
“That accounts for less than one percent.”
“We had a total of six complaints last year of excessive force, out of 1651 people being arrested.”
“But then you look at 42 officers injured in a year, the ones taking the brunt of it are the police.”
Mr Chiara urged that those unhappy with an officer’s methods should not respond violently, and should go through the relevant complaints’ procedures.
“It's simple, if you have a grievance, or you are not happy with the way you are being treated, there's systems in place and policies for you to launch them.”
“Be it the police complaints board, the duty officer, the custody sergeant.”
