Attacks on Hartlepool's firefighters branded 'embarrassing' and 'unacceptable' amid warning to culprits

Cleveland Fire Authority, at their meeting on Friday, heard from April 2020 to January 2021 there were 39 incidents of violence to staff recorded, including both verbal and physical attacks.

In comparison 38 incidents were recorded for the same period last year.

Cllr Marjorie James, Hartlepool representative on the authority, said it needs to be heavily publicised when camera footage is used to help prosecute culprits guilty of committing assaults on staff, to help deter others.

She said: “Make it known to the rest of the public that these incidents are happening and that hopefully we are actually gaining prosecutions with either serious fines attached or even actual jail time if it’s a really serious offence.”

Cllr Luke Frost, Stockton-on-Tees representative on the authority, said the figures were ’embarrassing’ and do not reflect the actions of the vast majority in the area.

He said: “Given that for the best part of the last year we’ve been in a lockdown and had very limited contact with people, I still find that figure to be a disgrace and kind of embarrassing to be honest.

“It doesn’t reflect on the whole of Teesside, but certainly it seems that we do have a problem with a small minority of people.”

Ian Hayton, chief fire officer at Cleveland Fire Brigade, said even one attack on a member of staff is ‘unacceptable’.

He added the authority has invested in CCTV cameras for vehicles and body-worn cameras for frontline staff to help address the issue, and stated they will bring the culprits to justice wherever they can.

He said: “It is unacceptable, one is unacceptable.

“Quite clearly every occasion when anybody is being brought to justice, we support the appropriate agencies in those prosecutions of that minority that actually do engage in violence to staff to those in the public sector.

“We’re not resting on our laurels and we are certainly investigating what more we can do to actually reduce the number of violence to staff incidents.”

Cllr Jon Rathmell, Middlesbrough representative on the authority, noted how cases will not have been helped by the fire brigade conducting less community engagement activities this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said: “It’s going to be something that’s difficult to tackle anyway isn’t it, because community engagement has no doubt dropped in the last 12 months with the lack of community events where you can engage youngsters.

“I can see that there’s been moves to try and combat it in the last 12 months but there’s also been unprecedented circumstances that have prevented engagement.

“I know from the police it’s also had a knock on impact with them in regards to engagement opportunities and educational opportunities.”

Cllr Rathemll added he is therefore hopeful of seeing the numbers reduce next year.

Mr Hayton noted community engagement has indeed dropped due to the lockdowns enforced because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However he said new engagement strategies are being worked on, and additional funding had been recently secured through the youth engagement initiative to focus on connecting with young people in particular.

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