The IOPC took into account the officers 'relative inexperience'! Was this another student officer with no real experience of working life and confrontation, with hid learning priorities devoted to studying for his degree? It reads like he totally lost his composure and struck the individual 12 times and also hit another police officer in this frenzy. I remember from my training that it would only take three to four blows on the upper thigh to render Mr. Angry with a dead leg, or upper arm for a dead arm and end of fight and completion of arrest of Mr. Angry who needed help to get into the back of the police van on his way to a bed and less than appealing breakfast in the local police station. Again we are back to the need for mature experienced individuals who can deal with the local idiots effectively and with composure that out little students cannot compete with.

He might have dished out a few more, but it’s very tiring.

There is also the inbuilt reluctance in some officers to fully hit the person because the fear that they might seriously hurt/kill them. So they pull the strike and when it does not work panic and start to whale them with multiple strikes. If the officers remember their training and hit them full force then it will only take the one strike. But they should be prepared to strike again if the 1st one has not worked.

I dunno about this one, retired brief. ‘Sticking’ someone 12 times does seem excessive but how was the arrestee behaving to merit such a bashing? The fact that the PC wasn’t charged with a criminal offence suggests that he did indeed fear for his own safety. I’ve been in difficult situations where, during the course of subduing a threshing, foaming, out-of-control prisoner, ‘friendly fire’ has caught another officer. No, as usual, we’ve only been given less than half of the story – of course, the IOPC has more than made up for it with their usual, portentous, holier-than-Thou comments.

Imagine; as you make a strike you know that you are being filmed and your career is in jeopardy - food for thought?