Cambridgeshire Police Federation chair Liz Groom has called for offenders who attack officers to be given ‘the toughest possible sentence’.
Liz was speaking after official figures showed that 572 frontline officers in Cambridgeshire were assaulted in the year to 31 March 2023.
The data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that 86 of those assaults resulted in an injury.
In England and Wales, the figures showed there was a total of 40,330 attacks on officers in that year, with 11,022 resulting in an injury to an officer.
Liz said: “It’s sickening to see so many attacks on officers who are doing their job to serve and protect the public.
“It should never be part of the job, and while we know that the vast majority of people support the police, there is a minority who, for some reason, think it is acceptable to assault officers.
“The courts should be giving the toughest possible sentences to those who attack officers.
“They now have stronger sentencing powers after the maximum penalty for assaulting an officer was doubled to two years’ imprisonment.
“I’d like to see those powers being used to support our members on the frontline and send out that message that it’s not acceptable and won’t be tolerated.”
Liz added that every officer who wanted to carry Taser should be trained to do so and said it often acted as a deterrent to would-be attackers.
“Taser is a really important part of an officer’s kit that can help to protect them and members of the public,” she said.
“In many cases it acts as a deterrent and just having it on their person can diffuse situations which may escalate into violence.
“As a Federation we’ve said it should be available to frontline officers who request it, and these shocking figures add more weight to that call.
“We should be able to give officers the equipment and the training they need to protect themselves and the public.”