Sarnia Police Chief Derek Davis is raising awareness about assaults against police officers.
In a social media post earlier this week, Davis said 19 criminal charges have been laid against suspects in connection with assaults on officers so far this year.
He said the post is not meant to alarm anyone but rather to emphasize that policing is a high-risk profession.
"We do have different ways of approaching situations where violence is in either direction is not necessary but it is important to know that sometimes it is a necessary part of the job, so we do the best we can to keep our officers safe, we do our best to keep the people we interact with safe but sometimes these things do happen," said Davis.
The number of charges is up 19 per cent from the same timeframe last year.
Davis said charges are only laid when the assault is significant.
"I think the officers do a very good job of managing some of the difficult people that we encounter, so I'm very pleased with what I've seen in terms of the interactions," he said.
Davis said the reasoning as to why these incidents happen depend on different circumstances.
He said it's something Sarnia police are monitoring because it is a safety issue.
"I never want to see any of our officers hurt or injured and we want to make sure that everybody goes home safe at the end of the day," he said.
Davis explained no officers have been seriously hurt in any of these interactions, but minor injuries have been reported.
He explained that has not been the case in other communities.
"It's been a difficult time for policing in Ontario and we're cognizant of that, it's never something that we want to see here," Davis said.
He is advising people if they are in contact with police to comply with what they're asking to prevent these assaults from happening.
Davis said if the suspect is not happy with the interaction there are other avenues to deal with the concerns.
"Doing some of those in the moment, maybe perhaps not understanding the law or some of the authorities that you may be subject to, is unnecessary conflict," he said. "The number one advice would be to comply, and then if you want to complain after, go ahead," he said.
