Protection plea over police assaults

New figures show Greater Manchester Police lost 832 working days in a single year because of assaults on their officers.

Local Lib-Dems say the statistics show that officers are not getting enough protection and have urged the Government to do more.

Figures from across the country show that 34 forces lost a total of 15,338 officer working days due to assaults in the latest year for which statistics are available.

Greater Manchester was the fourth most badly hit force in the country, after the Metropolitan Police, with 5,848 days lost, followed by West Midlands (1,166) and Northumbria (1,075).

The figures were released in a written parliamentary answer from Policing Minister Vernon Coaker.

Rochdale Councillors and parliamentary spokesman for Oldham East and Saddleworth, Elwyn Watkins said: “Violence against police officers is totally unacceptable.

“Police officers are clearly not being provided with the protection that they need to do their jobs. Current measures are clearly not effective enough as 832 days are lost because of attacks on Greater Manchester’s police officers.

“There must be zero tolerance on attacks, abuse and threats of violence and this means prosecuting the offenders and putting them through the courts.

“The Government must do more to ensure the safety of police officers in what is already a very challenging working environment.”

While being a police officer is fraught with danger, Rochdale Online has previously reported concerns over attacks on other emergency services as well.

There has been violence against firefighters and even health staff, with staff at the Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the Rochdale Infirmary, suffering 174 incidents in a year and North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) seeing such incidents rise to 234 attacks.