Not all injuries suffered in the line of duty are visible. Photo / File
Not all injuries suffered in the line of duty are visible. Photo / File
A kick to the face, being run over by a fleeing driver or smacked in the head with a tomahawk are just a few examples of unprovoked attacks on police officers.
A recent report by the New Zealand Police Association has detailed the high price police officers pay for serving the public.
The article, titled "Risk and resilience", provides a snapshot into the appalling experiences of four police officers and the horrific injuries they injured.
For Senior Constable Paul Symonds, 61, a kick to the face resulting in a smashed eye socket, lacerations and a broken tooth was a terrible way to end his policing career.
The long-serving officer, who received the NZ Bravery Star for his actions during the Napier siege, was attacked on December 20 last year in a cell at the Hastings courthouse.
The man who did the damage was last month sentenced to 3 and a half years in prison.
Senior Constable Paul Symonds. Photo / Supplied
Symonds' case is one of several that highlight the risks faced by police officers as they serve their communities.
In the same month that Symonds was attacked, Senior Constable Scott Woodsford, 57, was hit by a fleeing driver as he attempted to lay road spikes at Te Teko in Bay of Plenty.
The car was travelling at about 100km/h when it hit him.
Woodsford went over the bonnet and windscreen and landed at the bottom of a 2m-deep drain next to the road. He was knocked unconscious.
Woodsford suffered a brain bleed, concussion, a wrist fracture, a dislocated shoulder and broke multiple bones in both legs.
He was lucky to be alive. He spent two months in hospital and another 21 months recovering at home. He has metal rods in both lower legs and one in his right thigh.
He has only recently returned to work on light duties at Whakatāne Police Station.
Mentally, Woodsford said, he's feeling good, especially about the fact that he's learnt to walk again.
He's gone from a wheelchair, to a walking frame to crutches and now to a single stick.
"The surgeons have told me that I will never be 100 per cent again, but say it's likely I will be back up to fitness for work eventually, although it could take six to 12 months," he said.
Constable Ardon Hayward, of Rotorua Police. Photo / Ben Fraser
He's well aware that his life as a cop could be over, but he remains optimistic.
After 20 years of policing, he said, he knows what to expect at work – that there is always a risk to the job.
Last month, his attacker was sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Another Bay of Plenty police officer, Constable Ardon Hayward, 31, is also on light duties after being hit on the back of the head with the blunt end of a tomahawk on July 17 last year.
He suffered a serious concussion and brain injury and part of his skull was replaced with a titanium plate.
Ardon, who joined the police in 2014 and worked with the public safety team, said he's "moved on" from the incident, which occurred during an arrest at a family harm callout, but it took a while and hasn't been easy.
Now, he said, he just wants to "get back to normal, back to how I was before it happened".
The man who attacked Ardon was sentenced to seven years in prison.
Constable Ardon Hayward's head, post-surgery, after being attacked with the blunt end of a tomahawk. Photo / NZPA
Constable Hannah Templeman, 26, also knows what it's like to take an unexpected blow to the head.
In November last year, she was part of a Counties Manukau team policing unit trying to contain rowdy drunken behaviour in Ōtāhuhu after Tonga's Rugby League World Cup win.
As a man was being led to a patrol car, Templeman and her colleagues formed a line around the arresting officer to deter partying fans who were taking exception to the arrest.
The threat came from behind, and Templeman was king hit on the side of her head, causing her to crash to the concrete below.
"I didn't see it coming and I don't remember it too well, but apparently I was unconscious for about 10 seconds," she said.
Her attacker melted away into the night and was unable to be identified.
Templeman knows she was lucky to have sustained only a mild concussion and despite some headaches and bruising to her face and arm, she was back at work a week later.
"I was very lucky because of where I was hit. It could have been a lot worse, even though it was very painful because I had my ear piece in on that side," she said.
NZ Police Association president Chris Cahill. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Police Association president Chris Cahill said police officers are well trained and resilient, but they aren't super human.
"They are ordinary citizens whose job is to try to protect the rest of us from dangerous situations and bad people.
"They know there are risks, but the life-changing effects of being injured are poorly understood."
Sometimes, he said, the true costs are not revealed until years later and the harm to families is even less appreciated.
"The partners who stay awake at night hoping their loved ones will come home in one piece; the children who see mum or dad battered and bruised … what is the effect on them? Saying it's just part of the job ignores the human costs that shouldn't have to be paid."
And not all injuries suffered in the line of duty are visible.
Emergency responders around the world are now recognising the inner struggles that result from exposure to trauma, which often don't get as much consideration as broken bones.
