Police usher in new training after 'reports about preventable harm' and assaults on officers

“You’ve got shortness of breath, lack of communication, there may be a change in the colour of their skin.”

PC Rob Green is listing just some of the danger signs of asphyxiation to a group of serving Metropolitan Police officers in Hendon, northwest London.

He’s delivering a brand-new programme, developed by the College of Policing, on how to safely use force against someone who is fighting an officer or resisting arrest.

Sky News has been granted exclusive access to the training, which uses role play and acting out scenarios to drill officers in de-escalation use of restraints, and use of force.

First, the officers act out an interaction with one of them playing a vulnerable member of the public, while they face ‘abuse’ as they try to do their jobs.

Then, another officer volunteers to be ‘arrested’ for affray. He screams he ‘won’t go into a cell’ so is pinned to the floor, handcuffed, strapped in leg and ankle restraints and carried into a ‘cell’.

The training is called Public and Personal Safety Training (PPST) and was developed alongside Avon and Somerset Police, and with Professor Chris Cushion from Loughborough University.

It’s been introduced in England and Wales, and has to be repeated for two days every year by all serving officers.

Andy Marsh, head of the College of Policing, tells Sky News the training was driven by a “number of reports about preventable harm, even deaths to people being arrested by the police. And secondly, also about a very worrying increase in assaults on police officers”.

He stresses it’s all about the “idea of de-escalation”.

“We don’t want to use force. We want to avoid it if at all possible. And actually, what we have seen is a very significant reduction in the use of force by officers who’ve been trained with this new PPST.”

The College of Policing says a pilot of the training led to 1,200 fewer use-of-force incidents over a 12-month span.

Before the training came in, the average Avon and Somerset police officer ‘used force’ in their job six times a year. This has now dropped to five times – an 11% reduction.

They also say they saw a drop in assaults on officers.

Officers who take part in the training at Hendon are drilling skills they might use on a daily basis.

PC Ugurcan Dayan says “doing more scenario-based training does help you to retain those useful tactics to go out there and make sure people stay safe”.

His supervisor Sergeant Harjot Sehmi says it protects officers by keeping them up to date with current guidance and legislation.

But policing is becoming ever more contentious and controversial, with most interactions seconds away from being recorded on a smartphone and splashed across the internet.

Just last month, footage emerged of a police officer seeming to stomp on a man’s head during an arrest at Manchester airport – which sparked large protests.

Mr Marsh suggests that as well implementing this new training, police bosses should be more proactive in releasing body-cam footage after controversial arrests or viral incidents.

“I won’t comment on that case specifically, but I did write guidance in 2020 that was issued to all chief constables that actually advise[d] the sort of circumstances where body worn video should be released and certainly should be considered being released, even when criminal proceedings were in progress.

“And some of the circumstances that amount to that is where there’s a huge public and press interest, particularly where the release of the body-worn video footage may actually help prevent serious violence or serious disorder.”

This summer’s riots have highlighted the threat police officers face from members of the public – the people they have a duty to protect. It’s hoped this new training will make that difficult job a little easier.