Officers used force 50 times a day-chief

AVON and Somerset Police used force on suspects more than 50 times a day over the last 12 months, according to the constabulary’s top officer.

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Chief Constable Sarah Crew said a use of force was recorded almost 20,000 times between September 2024 and the end of August 2025.

But she said the vast majority of incidents were at the very lowest end of the scale and that officers had a duty to record whenever they used force, no matter how small, and this included simply touching or handcuffing someone.

During the monthly Police Question Time, police and crime commissioner (PCC) Clare Moody said she had received a question from a young person who asked: “Why is there police brutality towards young people?”