Yesterday it was reported in the Civilian press that a male who it’s believed suffered from a heart attack, died as he waited for Medics to enter his home address.

Why was he waiting? Not because the local Ambulances were dealing with the usual huge volume of non-emergency calls which takes them away from dealing with the ‘real’ emergencies, but because the male in question had previously, on numerous occasions, been abusive to the Medics who had attended his address in the past, so the Medics had to wait outside for the Police to arrive before making entry.

Civilians may not understand this procedure, but if you start to become abusive towards Medics, then they have every right NOT to attend your address, unless they have Police back-up. When I was in the Metropolitan Police, working in an inner-city Borough, backing up Medics was a daily occurrence.

I always used to be completely bemused as to why anyone would want to be abusive to the very same people they expected to help them? It makes absolutely no sense! In fact, it always used to make me feel quite angry that these people thought that it was ‘ok’ to use Medics as ‘punching bags’. But being the professional officer that I was, I would never let this anger get in the way of the job…..

Of course, when there are factors present when dealing with these sort of situations, such as Mental Health issues, then, of course, these scenarios demand a different frame of mind. Mental Health, I am sure, is behind many of the cases involving abuse aimed at our brave emergency services – I witnessed it myself on numerous occasions. But there there are those cases which can only be attributed to the disgusting conduct of the patient.

It is absolutely right that Ambulance Crews should not be expected to attend addresses which have a history of violence towards the attending crews. Why should ambulance crews be expected to put their own safety on the line, when they know that, chances are, when they enter a certain address, then they are probably going to be subjected to a torrent of verbal and physical abuse?

In the scenario that was reported yesterday in the civilian press, the male who ended up dying, had a history of showing aggression when being treated by Paramedics, and he had already admitted to owning weapons such as claw hammers.

If it was you who arrived at this males address, would you want to enter the premises without any sort of Police back up? Of course not –  at the end of the day, you want to go home at the end of your shift in one piece. And rightly so.

If you happen to be reading this article, and you are the sort of individual who has, would or could assault Paramedics, then understand this: one day, you could end up really needing the life-saving skills of Medics, but you might end up not getting the help that you need, because you have previously been abusive towards ambulance crews. 

In your last moments, you may indeed regret your previous violent or abusive actions which were aimed at our brave emergency services. But it was you who made the decision to conduct yourself in such a manner, and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Our emergency services are here to help you, but not if you feel that being violent or abusive towards they who put their lives on the line to help complete strangers is, in some way, ‘ok’. Because it is not ok, and you have no excuse for it.

Ultimately, there is never any rational excuse for acting violent towards the men and women who serve in the emergency services. I have always said that if you assault members of the emergency services, then you should have your access to the 999 system withdrawn. As I am typing this, once again I am thinking about the lone female London Ambulance Service Paramedic who was flagged down by two males, specifically so that they could assault her. What an absolute disgrace. 

I am not sure if the two scumbags who assaulted the lone female Paramedic were ever caught. But if indeed they did end up getting arrested and were subsequently convicted, then they should never be allowed to access the 999 system again. And if they end up passing away because they could not get the help they needed, then so be it. They should not have attacked the Paramedic in the first place.

My view may seem harsh, and, of course, you may not agree with me, but we are each entitled to our own opinions. There is NO excuse for assaulting our emergency services. Of course, people suffering from mental health issues may not always be able to take responsibility for their actions. And this article really does not apply to them.

Instead, this article is intended for the individuals who assault our emergency services, based on their own conscious decision to do just that. How sad it is, that we live in a society where assaults on our emergency services, not just in this country, but around the world, is a common thing.

It was only this morning that I saw a video of a Cop in America being beaten with an ASP, before his colleague arrived and shot the suspect. Sometimes, I wish that our oppos in the emergency services could ‘down tools’ just for one day.

Our ‘society’ would cease to function in a matter of hours. And perhaps then, would the emergency services get the credit (and pay) which they deserve.

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