Police officer attacked with 'blood drawn' after attempting to restrain wanted person in Fareham

A large presence of officers were seen in West Street on Sunday around lunchtime as the individual was restrained – before lashing out. It led to the injured officer needing support from colleagues with ‘blood being drawn’ during the assault.

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A person was arrested following the incident, with Fareham police posting on Facebook on Sunday: ‘I'm sure a lot of you are wondering what was happening earlier on West Street with the large police presence.

‘Well, a wanted person was spotted by (officers). They engaged the person whilst officers attended. Sadly, this person did not take too kindly to being arrested and had to be restrained. In the process, an officer was assaulted whilst acting in the lawful execution of their duty, requiring support from colleagues to prevent further injury to any party.

‘One person has now been arrested and is off to the custody suite. The officer will be checked over but the early signs are that they will be able to return to duty soon and they are thankfully not too badly injured despite blood being drawn.’

The statement went on to criticise those who attack officers. It continued: ‘This is another example of officers being assaulted for doing their lawful duty. It is never acceptable to assault an officer, no matter how much you disagree with being arrested. It is not going to change at that point in time. Just allow due process to either implicate or exonerate.

‘All police officers know that at some point in our careers, we have arrested the wrong person...we just didn't know it at the time because we have to make split second decisions on the smallest amount of information. We don't always get it right there and then, but due process will.

‘Please remember that behind the uniform, we are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles. We are people that do what feels like an impossible job at times, but we do it for the right reasons. It is never just "part of the job" to be assaulted. We all want to go home in the same condition we started our shift...uninjured.’