Humberside Police to extend 'spit hood' pilot

The mesh fabric hoods, which are put over the head of an arrested person to stop officers from being spat at or bitten, have been piloted in Hull since May.

While they have only been used twice on individuals, the force says there have been 74 reports of officers being spat at.

The police are now trying them out in a wider area for a further three months, before committing to a full roll-out.

A team of response officers and each of the custody suites in Hull, East Yorkshire, Northern Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire will now trial the mesh hoods.

Critics have said they are distressing and humiliating and could cause panic in a detained person.

But Chief Inspector Paul Butler said the first use - on a heavily intoxicated woman who had been involved in a public order offence in Hull - had been deemed "fair and appropriate" after CCTV footage was reviewed by a scrutiny panel including members of independent groups.

The second more recent case would also be scrutinised by the panel.

He said one of the concerns had been that it would be overused - and just two uses was "a positive."

He said sceptics on the panel had been won over: "There were people against spit guards to start with but because they have seen the whole process through and seen them used in practice they are on board."

Of the first use he said: "It was really obvious she could still breathe, shout and was able to pick out individual officers out and direct abuse at them."

Chief Insp Butler said the public's support for spit hoods had been "overwhelming", with "probably two per cent negative feedback."

He added: ""We've had officers who have had blood spat in their face - that's just not acceptable."

They'd asked civil liberties groups if they wanted to review their training package, but they had not taken up their offer.

West Yorkshire Police is consulting on plans to allow its frontline officers to use the mesh fabric hoods, which are already being deployed in custody suites.