Just reading this

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/13/double-jail-sentences-attacks-emergency-workers-ministers-england-wales

made me wonder why on earth people do that? To some extent I could imagine why someone throws a stone at the police, and maybe someone would rob an ambulance of drugs, but really, is it a sort of mental imbalance that leads people to do this? Do any of the emergency workers on the forum have any insight into this?

Two reasons….

a) They’re drunk / on drugs and
b) they’re arseholes

They cant see the bigger picture, find it fun and are plain stupid.
Perhaps the sentance for doing this would be to ban them from any form of emergency assistance, like hospitals, Dr’s, Police etc.

b) they’re arseholes

End of thread.

b) they’re arseholes

^^^^^ this.

Two reasons….

a) They’re drunk / on drugs and
b) they’re arseholes

Pretty much covers it. Why do people do loads of horrible things, because they are horrible people.

why do people attack anyone?

Alcohol, drugs & or mental health crisis generally.

Time to watch Clockwork Orange again.

They’re terminal morons, hyped up further by alcohol, drugs and adrenaline/stress.

Oh yeah, and they’re arseholes as above.

Time to watch read Clockwork Orange again.

Are we suggesting clockwork orange to find out why they do it or as a suggestion for the cure?

Assaults on nurses tend to be two things. 1) Telling an areshole they cannot have what they want (made worse by drinking) in A&E 2) people in delirium or with dementia who do not understand what is happening so lash out

I guess ambulance staff get 1) a lot

This legislative change is not in response to a huge outbreak of violence – its about pandering to the prejudices of gammons

Two reasons….

a) They’re drunk / on drugs and
b) they’re arseholesmentally ill

Some are just arseholes too though I expect

This legislative change is not in response to a huge outbreak of violence – its about pandering to the prejudices of gammons

Do we need longer sentences or just get tougher with what’s currently available?

My dr trained in a+e in a not very desirable area in uk, he turned his back while treating a patient and was assaulted. Poor doc was ok but didn’t want any charges made, but nhs always prosecute, or did, this was a while ago. The guy was drunk, clearly drinking on an empty head.

Assaulting a doctor treating your injury is pretty poor, went to court, don’t know what happened am afraid.

Do we need longer sentences or just get tougher with what’s currently available?

Better prevention would help more.

<blockquoteThe guy was drunk, clearly drinking on an empty head.

I’ve been drunk a fair few times in my life but I don’t remember it prompting to attack someone, let alone someone who’s obviously helping me!

Reading the original article it’s about emergency workers in general and also includes prison workers.

The majority of incidents will probably be police officers. Most people don’t like getting arrested or forcibly restrained and a lot of them strike back.

Typical leftie response but the social contract in this country is pretty much totally broken. We’ve had 30-40 years of being told to look out for ourselves and screw everyone else, and that your value as a person is based on your ability to spend money on shite you don’t need.

Surprisingly enough this isn’t working out too well for a lot of people, and they lash out at an easy target that represents the state but won’t fight back like police do.

TL;DR – because they’re arseholes, but there’s a reason why they’re arseholes

Are we suggesting clockwork orange to find out why they do it or as a suggestion for the cure?

Neither the book or the film offer up any answers, they just bring home some of the questions very starkly.

After 20 year’s working in A&E’s, I would say top of the list is drunken/ drugged up arsehole’s(some may not actually be arsehole’s without the substanceuse). Some arsehole’s don’t even need drink or drinks. Some folk with head trauma can get a bit punchy with or without drugs or alcohol. Some folk with one of many types of mental illness might, but I have never felt this is anything other than a reaction to their illness, and this is a small number over that time.

I think its people rather than the alcohol, though the alcohol appears to bring that side of their nature to the fore, and it must be the dominant side 😕
I’ve been well sozzled and had them stitch a stab wound to my arm, across a nerve, and due to being drunk said they couldn’t give me a local anesthetic. Only 4 stitches but due to the nerve each one shot pain up my arm. and the slow puling through of the thread 😆

At no point did I feel like bashing the nurse. I’ve never caused a scene. OK that once walking out with an open artery wasn’t amongst my best ideas, and of course the time with Dr Spanky, and Nurse Stabby, but that’s a tale for another day 😉

What grum said.

Because they are ****, ive been bricked too many times to count in the past, we’ve even been trapped in dead ends blocked in by bins or cars or people and been bricked as well as just when responding to a call, there was a period where we would be called to an area and we had to go past the park and we would always get bricked from the field you can’t even stop even though its mostly a false alarm as the attackers have rang it in to wait for you but it might not be, we once actually turned up to a house fire with the windscreen put through, its not as frequent as it used to be but it still happens my gaffer was assaulted recently and there’s nowt we can to back to them 🙁

Better prevention would help more.

Sorry, I was assuming that was a given, whether it’s mental health, drugs or alcohol.

I work as a repairman for social housing. I’ve lost count of the idiots who seem to think they can have a go at me for something that is totally out of our (the Companys) control.
There has only been one place where I refused to go in, as the bloke was aggressive to me on the doorstep, so there was no way I was going in.
He then chased me down the street, well, not a chase, but he started following me, telling me he was going to report me, and I would be sacked, and I’m going to get a kicking etc. It was the only time when I was ready to punch a tenant, if he had took a step closer he would have been punched numerous times.
The strange thing is, his partner had rang us up to get the repair done, yet he was abusive when they were getting some help. as for ambulance staff et al, it doesnt make sense, they are just idiots.

Do we need longer sentences or just get tougher with what’s currently available?

The only logical reason for increasing sentences or even being tougher with current ones is as deterrent. Given most people in these circumstances aren’t lucid, sober, calm, I very much doubt they are balancing the risks of increased sentences.

It’s not just emergency workers, I have been spat at by random strangers working telecoms joining cables down a holes in the street, and when working in “cash register” repairs, pub landlords frequently got all threateny one set his dogs on me.

I think any job where you deal with the public it’s a risk, attacking traffic wardens is virtually seen as socially acceptable, and ironically verbally abusing traffic wardens brings mass public support if your an ambulance driver.

I just looked up the assault on the a+e doc as above, it was a serial offender and got a custodial sentence. I took a relative to an a+e 2 years ago and there’s a notice board by the door with pictures of all the people who are banned from entering, there were quite a few.

I was assaulted at a fire, some ned thought it would be fun to **** me on the back of the legs with a broom handle absolutely no idea why! No the smartest move by him as there were loads of police there also, quickly bundled away by them, I can still his mothers words ringing in my ears ” he’s a good loon, he’s done nithing wrang” 🤷‍♂️ Turns out he was released the day before from jail for drug couriering. He got 13 months for his troubles that day.

Arsehole would be a fair assessment of him.

Was the thing up the valley’s to throw rocks at Firemen, set some bins on fire and throw stones at the engines when they turn up. Seems to of died down now.

My sister works in mental health, her quote the other day was “there are some really nasty bastards around these days”:

my gaffer was assaulted recently and there’s nowt we can to back to them

I saw nothing, I’m sure no one else did too.

Don’t underestimate how many people are almost permanently pissed or off their faces on drugs.

AA our wagons are full of cameras we would be sacked in a heartbeat

. We’ve had 30-40 years of being told to look out for ourselves and screw everyone else, and that your value as a person is based on your ability to spend money on shite you don’t need

There’s so much about society that has come home to roost because of this.

What Grum said – no-one is born an arsehole, arseholes are created. How they are created is no doubt a complicated mix that’s beyond my ability to properly understand, but progressively withdrawing support from people in vulnerable situations over the past decades will have played a part.

Too often in this country we’re short-sighted when it comes to spending – investment in social infrastructure has been shown to have a long-term positive ROI (e.g. reducing policing costs for this kind of twattery), but it’s usually first on the chopping block when the politicians need to save some money.

I think it’s a combination of decreasing work opportunities for many (low skilled manufacturing etc. have gone), higher expectations (and a sense of entitlement) most of the population now have, combined with a more generous welfare state has led to the current situation. It’s not just the UK either.

Go back 50 years and there were still arseholes but many were employed, they needed to work as welfare was less generous, drinking culture more controlled and less access to drugs.

Unintended consequences of well intentioned policy. There has been an on going belief more support, both financial and emotional, will improve society, doesn’t seem to be working though.

Because they said to ‘clap’ the NHS – which is fine for old folk and most boomers to understand but many young people understand ‘clapping tryhards’ to mean ‘take out’

I don’t mean to dinner, neeverlaike. Innit.

But seriously – grum and stumpyjon can both have a point. I warrant it’s not as binary as x vs y. Evidence and convincing study/ies of causation would be preferable.

@stumpyjon we have pretty much the least generous benefits of any high income country apart from the US, and they’ve been getting less generous.