New data reveals Lincolnshire Police ‘use of force’, plus assaults on officers

New quarterly data has been released showing police officers used ‘force’ in Lincolnshire 1,572 times in three months. Reports also showed the number of times suspects and officers were hurt.

The figures, revealed as part of new requirements by the Home Office, show that the majority of force was used in the Lincoln and West Lindsey areas.

‘Use of force’ has been described as ranging from applying handcuffs to a compliant person being arrested, to the higher end where the officer uses proportionate force to enforce an arrest, or a firearm is aimed or discharged.

The 1,572 instances of force recorded in the months from April to June equate to 3.5% of all incidents in that time (44,935). From that force total, 1,203 arrests were made.  

Where use of force took place:

Officers and subjects injured

The report notes that the main reason for using force was to ‘protect self’; this given as the justification for force in 1,152 instances.

Some 50 police officers were recorded as being assaulted by the subject. 36 officers were spat on and 21 were violently threatened with a weapon.

Sixty four officers were injured during the use of force, all receiving minor injuries.

In 94 cases, the subject received a minor injury.

The outcome of all use of force cases was as follows:

From this month, police forces across the country are required by the Home Office to issue details of the number of times officers have used force in the course of their duties.

Lincolnshire Police will publish their ‘use of force’ data on a quarterly basis to provide greater transparency. The first publication is available to view in full here.

Deputy Chief Constable for Lincolnshire Police Craig Naylor said: “Whilst this new initiative means that officers are now required to submit details of the number of times they use force and the nature of that force, it provides us and the Police and Crime Commissioner with a suite of information which holds us to account to the public we serve.”

Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire Marc Jones says he fully supports transparency in this area: “It’s really important the police are as open to public scrutiny as possible. As long as the systems in place are not overly complicated and waste officers’ time it is important that both I and the public have the information we need to hold the force to account.”