New campaign shines light on assaults on officers
A national campaign has been launched to shine a light on the “potentially devastating consequences” for officers who have been victims of assault.
Developed by creative agency Loaf in partnership with the National Police Wellbeing Service, Oscar Kilo, the campaign promotes the work of ‘Operation Hampshire’ to improve the response and support for assault victims within the police service.
The campaign, ‘Together against assaults’, is calling for all police forces across England and Wales to be part of the initiative and “shines a light on the complexities around the subject”.
In-depth research and workshops were undertaken to form a full understanding of the situation and inform the strategy, said Loaf.
Part of this was to create a lead video, led by the voice of ex-police officer and Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding.
Dave Mullen, co-founder and creative director at Manchester-based Loaf, said: “Assaults on police officers and staff are a serious matter, with potentially devastating consequences.
“Our role was not only to communicate the visible and hidden effects of assault, but to also move towards changing the culture that sometimes stops people reporting them in the first place.
“We had to produce something different, challenging, emotive and empathetic in order to connect, start conversations and initiate a change in behaviour.”
Loaf also delivered internal communications, social and digital assets and toolkits for forces across the country to utilise (https://loaf.agency/work/together-against-assaults).
Dave Brewster, national Operation Hampshire coordinator, commented: “The subject of police assaults is emotive, and it was essential that our message resonated with colleagues.
“We needed to ensure that our colleagues recognised that Op Hampshire was developed for them, recognising the unique role they play in society.
“The team at Loaf clearly understood the essence of Op Hampshire and the culture in which we operate in. We were fully engaged in the creative process and our views were obviously respected and appropriately and creatively challenged to deliver the most effective outcome.
“The film finds a perfect balance, clearly articulating the point, whilst approaching the issue from a subtle but impactful angle.”
Communication and engagement manager for Oscar Kilo, Jenna Flanagan, added: “Loaf have been fantastic to work with – from the very start of the concept creation, right through the execution and delivery of the campaign.
“They quickly picked up on the brief and understood the unique challenges we were trying to address. The team provided some real creativity to our thinking and we’ve ended up with a really impactful campaign that we believe will have real longevity.”