With new footage emerging from the Manchester Airport fracas, where a female police officer’s nose was broken, violence against law enforcement has once again been thrust into the spotlight.

Brothers Mohammed Fahir Amaaz and Muhammad Amaad are on trial for their part in the brawl with Great Manchester Police in the airport last July. Police officers had sought to arrest Amaaz after he was alleged to have headbutted another man, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, before a violent scuffle ensued. Jurors were shown footage of the incident’s aftermath, in which PC Lydia Ward was left with blood streaming from her nose. The officer — who is on record as describing herself as “petite” at 5’2” and eight stone — told the court that she was “absolutely terrified” during the experience.

The Manchester Airport incident will inevitably revive debates over the recruitment procedures, training, and deployment of resources in the realm of policing. Over time, there has been the “credentialisation” of entry routes. Prominent pathways include the Professional Policing Degree Holder, along with the Police Constable Entry Program (PCEP) and the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA), where applicants are usually required to have a Level 3 qualification.

While conflict management, risk assessment, and interpersonal skills are important aspects of policing, there have been longstanding concerns that strength and fitness tests have been watered down in recruitment and training processes. One of the primary tests is the multi-stage fitness test (MSFT), commonly known as the “bleep test”, which measures aerobic capacity and stamina. While this test ensures a baseline level of fitness, there is the argument that it is inadequate preparation for the unpredictable and dynamic nature of frontline policing — particularly the need for short bursts of speed and strength in scenarios such as the Manchester Airport altercation.

The relationship between changes to recruitment/training procedures and the rising number of police assaults is deserving of greater exploration. A BBC investigation from last year, based on freedom of information requests sent to every police force in the UK, found that there were a total of 37,786 physical assaults on officers in 2023 — an average of 103 a day and an 11% rise from the 2021 figure of 33,864. The actual figure is likely to have been significantly higher, as only 35 out of 45 police forces provided figures. Even though this increase could be attributed to Covid-related lockdowns, new figures published earlier this year revealed a total of 55,954 assaults on police officers over the past 12 months — every 10 minutes on average.

While a variety of factors could be responsible for these high levels of violence against police officers, such as declining levels of respect for authority and a lack of trust in law enforcement, the possibility that a greater proportion of emergency workers in frontline policing are viewed as physically soft targets cannot be ruled out. When it comes to the Manchester Airport incident, there is the admittedly sensitive question of how a police constable — petite by her own admission, below the average height for women in the UK, and standing in the region of only 50 kilograms — was left so utterly exposed as officers sought to arrest a young man suspected of a violent assault.

Indeed, there is an extraordinary paradox at the heart of the Manchester Airport brawl. The initial footage, which showed PC Zachary Marsden kicking Amaaz’s head as the latter was being restrained on the floor, reignited the debate around police brutality. However, the more recent clip of a tearful Ward gives us reason to address existing policing frailties. This includes re-evaluating the robustness of strength and fitness assessments in recruitment procedures and training programs across our police forces.

Hard lessons must be learned from the incident. The uncomfortable truth is that police officers are struggling to handle physical threats — and this will hardly bolster already declining public trust.

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Dr Rakib Ehsan is a researcher specialising in British ethnic minority socio-political attitudes, with a particular focus on the effects of social integration and intergroup relations.

 

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