Chief Inspector Zoe Kelsey compared it like being in a combat zone, but with only a shield and stick.
After three girls were killed in a knife assault in Southport earlier this year, she was one of the officers at the epicenter of the riot in Middlesbrough.
One officer had a heart attack, demonstrators attempted to set them on fire, and her squad was bombarded with bricks.
After more than 25 years in law enforcement, Ch Insp Kelsey said the summer riots in the UK put her confidence in people to the test: “We’re humans too, I’m a mam, a daughter, and a wife. They simply believed that hurting police officers would be enjoyable and didn’t give a damn about it.
