The weaponising of COVID-19: Contamination prevention and the use of spit hoods in UK policing

Camilla De Camargo

doi:10.1177/0032258x211018787

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced a radically changed world for everyone, but its effects on police officers has been particularly acute. Officers have been subject to increased cough and spit attacks as offenders have sought to weaponise the coronavirus, and forces have responded by encouraging officers to use enhanced methods of contamination prevention. The controversial argument of whether using ‘spit hoods’ is a necessary tool in policing has been resurrected, although evidence of their ineffectiveness in the fight against COVID-19 has been brought to light more recently. Drawing on interview data obtained from 18 police officers in 11 UK forces over the summer of 2020, this article draws on interview narratives discussing contamination prevention, policing the pandemic, and the use of spit hoods.

Highlights

At the end of December 2019, the first cases of an unusual pneumonia strain were reported in Wuhan, China; 1 week later, the coronavirus was genetically sequenced and became known as the respiratory disease ‘COVID-19’ (WHO, 2020a)
As nearly 30% of the 12,471 surveyed Police Federation officers reported incidents of the public seeking to weaponise COVID-19 (Elliot-Davies, 2021), the topic of spit hoods as a necessary contamination prevention method is important to explore, because the Police Federation have always been insistent of their use, but even more so since the start of the pandemic
Police officers suffer from numerous mental health problems at a much higher rate than the public (Hartley et al, 2011), and the significant problems that officers have faced during the crisis have increased the potential for stress and anxiety exponentially (Elliot-Davies, 2021)

Summary

Introduction

At the end of December 2019, the first cases of an unusual pneumonia strain were reported in Wuhan, China; 1 week later, the coronavirus was genetically sequenced and became known as the respiratory disease ‘COVID-19’ (WHO, 2020a). Cases are being fast-tracked through the courts with a number of people already given custodial sentences, there are claims that some judgements are too lenient and there are inconsistencies in strictness across the country; for example, in Newcastle a 39-year old woman was sentenced to 21 weeks after coughing at police as she was being arrested, but in East Sussex, a 39-year-old man ‘was spared jail for coughing in a police officer’s face and saying he wanted to infect his family with COVID-19’ (Marano, 2020) These reports encouraged the Police Federation to actively support the use of spit hoods as a contamination prevention tool. This article uses data from 18 UK police officer interviews and explores anxieties around contamination, the use of spit hoods, and how working practices have changed

Methodology

Findings

Conclusion