71 police officers are attacked every day in Britain, with severity ranging from bites and headbutts to stabbings and attempted murder
POLICE officers are there to protect us, saving lives and preventing the public becoming victims of violent crime - but what happens when they are the ones being attacked?
In the UK, a police officer is attacked once every twenty minutes - and alarmingly attacks are on the rise.
The number of police officers assaulted across England and Wales recorded by the Home Office last year was about 26,000 - approximately 71 police officers every day.
In 2012, policewomen Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone were brutally murdered at the hands of one-eyed cop killer Dale Cregan while responding to a report of a burglary in Manchester.
During these attacks, officers are instructed to press a secret orange emergency button on their radio known as Code Zero - which sends a signal to every police officer in the area calling out for emergency back up.
Now, for the first time in a Channel 5 documentary, Police Code Zero, three frontline cops open up about the times they've had to push the emergency button....
Dog handler PC Gareth Greaves works in Manchester- where over 1,000 officers were attacked just last year. And, as he reveals, it isn’t just the officers at risk.
In June 2017, policeman Gareth and his working German Shepherd Theo attended a report of two people having an argument with the cashier at a petrol station in the early hours.
When he arrived, the suspects started to run away, but Theo - trained to restrain criminals without hurting them - caught up with one named Timothy Sherriff.
The dog tried to drag Sherriff back and PC Gates caught hold of him to restrain him.
But Sherriff quickly turned violent - biting and kicking Theo in the head before punching PC Greaves in the face.
Recalling the assault, PC Greaves, who was also left with a broken hand, says: “He got hold of Theo - I couldn’t really see [but] he had him underneath the jaw.
“He then hit me twice… all my lip was bust.
“I was wholly expecting to get knocked out, I was expecting to get a kick in the face."
The suspect then grabbed Theo by the jaw, attempting to prise it open, choking the animal before dragging him to the floor.
PC Greaves recalls how he sent out a code zero call immediately, but as he was awaiting back up, Sherriff bit the dog's ear as hard as he could.
PC Greaves says: “Theo’s a determined dog… he took about four kicks to the head, and at no point did he go away - most dogs would have run off.”
Back-up arrived and the suspects were detained. Timothy Sherriff was charged with public order offence, which he was convicted of and sentenced to 80 hours community service, and assault on police - a charge which was later dropped.
It’s clear how much Theo - who is soon due to retire- means to PC Greaves.
He says: “Theo is part of my family.
“He brings me home safe every night - he’s got me through a lot of scrapes and I owe him more than I could ever give him."
PC Lucie Gray and Sergeant Jonny O’Donovan, based in Newbury, were also left fearing for their lives when they were called to a suspected drink drive crash in a remote, secluded area, and the suspect turned nasty.
PC Gray recalls: “In the distance we saw the outline of two people coming towards us.
“It was a male and a small female child. I wasn’t comfortable with the situation. There was something about it made me feel uneasy.”
An attempt was made to arrest the man - who was carrying a can of Special Brew - on suspicion of drink driving.
PC Gray says: “Within a split second, he’d started punching Jonny in the head, with both his hands like a complete wild animal. He went from zero to crazy man.
“Jonny was on the floor and he was on top of Jonny, just punching him to the head over and over again."
PC Gray was also attacked, and left needing medical assistance when the man smashed her head into the police car.
She says: “I felt myself being lifted up and swung like a battering ram.
“I remember feeling something cold running down my neck and initially I thought it was water.
“I looked and in the moonlight I could see it was blood.”
Terrified, PC Gray pushed the orange Code Zero button and waited for emergency assistance.
Sergeant O’Donovan says: “It was pitch black. Thoughts go through your mind - you think I’m not sure we’re going to come out of this.”
When back up finally arrived, the man who'd attacked them, Mark Davies was arrested and charged with ABH, assault with intent to resist arrest, and criminal damage, and was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison.
PC Gray adds: “To a degree, I think as officers we accept that we will be assaulted. It’s not right and it’s not OK but ultimately I know they’re not assaulting me personally… it’s the uniform that I’m wearing and the job that I’m doing."
Meanwhile, in Liverpool, traffic officer Kyle Sayers recounts the time a routine traffic stop in April 2018 spiralled into a full blown fight with motorcyclist Christopher Cole.
In bodycam footage from the incident, PC Sayers can be heard trying to speak to the man, who is immediately confrontational when pulled over, initially refusing to switch his bike off, or take his helmet off, and tells the officer to “Just do what you’re going to do, and just f**k off.”
Sayers says: “I could see the anger in his face. I could see him intermittently clenching his fists and he was pacing backwards and forwards and he looked just tense.
“He punched me as hard as he could, directly to the face directly to the fact and forehead.”
Thrown to the floor, Sayers is attacked in a busy main road and after radioing for back-up, PCSO James Stephen arrived.
Describing the scene, PCSO Stephen says: “I was taken aback - it was very surreal to see the officer being pinned down on the floor, being assaulted like that. I’ve never been in a situation like that before.”
Last year the Met police reported the most attacks on officers, with nearly 4,000 cases, followed by West Yorkshire, with 1,366.
Police Code Zero: Officer Under Attack, airs Monday 29 April 10pm, Channel 5.
