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Almost 800 police officers assaulted on duty per year

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Almost 800 police officers in Courier Country are being assaulted in the line of duty every year, according to new figures.

A Freedom of Information request found a total of 1,568 charges of police assault were reported to the procurator fiscal in the past two years.

The figures also revealed 339 officers were left injured in the past two years after being assaulted.

However, a Police Federation representative told The Courier old reporting measures mean the true figures were likely much higher.

The information covers the former Tayside, Fife and Forth Valley areas which make up Courier Country.

Last year there were 337 charges of police assault in the former Tayside Force area which was up from 319 in 2012.

In Fife the figure dropped from 202 in 2012 to 55 last year while Forth Valley dropped slightly from 332 to 323 in 2013.

Injuries suffered by officers following an assault increased in Fife and Forth Valley but dropped in Tayside. There were 50 injuries in Fife compared to 46, 58 in Forth Valley compared to 52 but 59 in Tayside, down from 74 in 2012.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We accept front line policing cannot be risk free.

“Police officers are equipped with protective uniform and equipment to assist them in tackling difficult, violent or potentially violent situations in a way which minimises risk and injury.

“We take any injury and assaults suffered by an officer extremely seriously and treat their safety with the utmost importance, so as to ensure they are not exposed to unnecessary risk.”

However, regional Police Federation chairman David Hamilton said attacks could be even higher due to historical nature of recording assaults before the move to centralisation.

He said assaults dropped for insufficient evidence were not included and neither were assaults which happen during resisting arrest.

He added: “What we can look forward to is the next set of figures which will be more accurate once this new system is in place.”