Wrexham officers speak out after being assaulted on duty

Police officers in Wrexham have spoken of the impact and effects of being victims of violence in their line of duty.

In the last year more that 500 assaults have been recorded on police officers, staff and volunteers in North Wales.

The figures have been released as part of ‘Response Policing Week’ – an annual event which highlights the work and day to day experience of frontline and office staff.

Amongst those who have been assaulted are Wrexham Rural Inspector Matt Subacchi and PC Shannon Smith who have shared their experiences and the long-lasting impact it has had.

PC Smith, 26, who joined the force three years ago, said a “debilitating” assault made her question her career in the force.

“I was bitten” she said. “But on top of that, there was a bit of a scuffle, and I came away with other injuries as a result.

“I suffered with my back and both of my knees, and I had an injury on my hand.

“I had to go to A&E straight away to have antibiotics for two weeks – and that knocks you about in itself.

“It was about three months that I suffered with the injuries that I had. It was hard.”

PC Smith knew from a young age that she wanted the be a police officer, but admitted that she has questioned her decision in the months following the assault.

She said: “Having come out the other end, and I am physically fine now, I don’t regret [becoming an officer] because you are helping people, and it does have positive impact on you as well – especially when you do something good for someone, and people are very grateful for what we do, and that’s the rewarding side of it.”

As well as the physical impact, PC Smith explained how she emotionally suffered as a result of her injuries.

“If I get stressed, I’ll usually take myself to the gym and that helps me.

“But I couldn’t do that after the incident in work, and because of my injuries to my back, I couldn’t go to the gym and get what I would normally get out of it.

“So, I struggled a lot. I was struggling to even put my socks on in the morning to come to work, to sit behind a desk, so it was very debilitating, really.”

Inspector Matt Subacchi, 36, who has been subject to a number of attacks during his time as a response officer, said that whilst dealing with confrontation comes with the job, “being assaulted doesn’t.”

“There’s a degree of, ‘it comes with the job’. No, it doesn’t,” said Insp Subacchi.

“I’ve been hit by vehicles, I’ve been hit with bats, I’ve had knives pulled out on me, I’ve been headbutted and bitten.

“But by far, the worse thing for me was being spat at in the face. That’s as intrusive as it gets for me.

“I would be sooner hit by a car a number of times than have someone spit in my face.”

Inspector Subacchi, a dad of two, who spend 10 years as a frontline officer, added: “What’s the hard thing I think, was when I became a dad and going home with those injuries.

“There’s a bigger risk when you’ve got a family sitting at home waiting for you.

“We understand that we’re going to be put in situations that most people don’t experience or have to go through.

“We’re alright with that, and we’re willing to do that. It’s an element of what we get paid to do. But it doesn’t make it necessarily easy to experience.”

PC Smith added: “It does take its toll on you.

“The job is stressful enough anyway, without having a physical injury to deal with and assaults to deal with and worrying about the next time you go to a similar job, are you going to get assaulted again?

“When you come away from a situation, in hindsight, you’re thinking about all the things you could have done, should have done, or it could have been worse.

“It could have happened like this, and then, going forward, you think about what could happen, because it can go really wrong, very quickly.”