Wakefield police officer fighting for change after on-duty attack

PC Sam Woods, who works on the drugs team in Wakefield, suffered a serious head injury when she was slammed into a car while trying to arrest a suspect last month.

As well as the large gash on her forehead, which required stitches and has left her with a scar, Sam suffered injuries to her leg and arm.

But she didn’t immediately realise how badly she’d been injured.

She said: “It all went black and then it was like I was back in the room.

"It was a weird feeling, because I didn’t feel any pain in my head, but when I put my hand on my head I could feel liquid.

"I pulled my phone out and took a picture, so I could see what injuries I had.

“When I saw the gash, I thought, ‘This is quite serious’.

"Luckily, an ambulance was with us within a couple of minutes. They didn’t know if I had any spinal injuries, so treated it quite seriously.

"They bandaged my head up, and I was feeling confused and a bit dazed at that point.

“There were injuries to my leg and arm as well, but no bone damage – I just had torn muscles and bruising.”

After the incident, Sam struggled to sleep and suffered from headaches and brain fog. She has now gone back to work, but is still not fully operational, adding that she was apprehensive about returning to full duties.

She said: “It’s one of those situations where it couldn’t really be avoided in the job that I do. It could easily happen again.

“I didn’t want to show my mum the picture of my head to start with, because now she’ll phone me sometimes and say: ‘How’s work been today?’

"I think it gave my parents a shock that I potentially might not come home from work.”

Sam, who grew up in Wakefield said: “My scar has healed really well. People come up to me and say: ‘Oh you won’t even see it, it’s fine’.

"But inside, I feel ‘but you can see it. It’s always going to be there, and it shouldn’t be there’.”

Sam said she wanted to help combat the drug problem in the city she knows, especially as she had lost school friends after they had become addicted to heroin.

She said: “I know the effects it can have on people. We’re never going to get rid of drugs altogether. But even if it’s just helping one or two people and getting them out of that situation.

“It’s not about the money, because we don’t get paid brilliantly. But I do it because I love the job. I love helping people and bringing people to justice.”

But Sam said there needed to be tougher sentences for offenders who assault police officers.

She said: “It’s going to get worse and worse, as people think they can get away with it, because the sentences aren’t there. Protect the Protectors isn’t working.

“I think that, in recent years, policing has become a very hard job to do without it being dangerous, because the respect for the police has gone."

Sam travelled to the House of Commons to speak to MP Holly Lynch about the dangers of policing.

“I wanted to talk to MPs because this happens day in and day out, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better,” she said.

"I want to tell them about the dangers we face as police officers. I’m quite lucky, I work on a small team and we always work double-crewed. But I know from being a frontline officer and single-crewed that it’s dangerous.

“I don’t know what it’s going to take before MPs realise the dangers we have to put ourselves through. We’re normal people. I go to work and do the job because I love it.

"But when things like this happen, you think: is it worth putting yourself through that for a job?”

West Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Craig Nicholls said he’d brought Sam to Parliament to meet Holly Lynch as Holly was one of the primary campaigners for the Assaults On Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018.

Craig said: “I think it’s really important that Holly can see the injury to police officers that happens every single day.

"There’s been a loss of connection between the legislation and the Ministry of Justice. We want to emphasise that message to Parliament and those key people who can drive that legislation with the Ministry of Justice.”

He added: “The timescales for police officer assaults getting to court are getting longer and longer too. We’re seeing officers being let down, time and time again.

“Sam is a really good, conscientious officer who’s gone to work to do her job, and has ended up with a significant head injury.

" I want MPs to see that Sam is a real person, a member of the community, and somebody who is trying to do her best within the area that she works.”