Increase in number of attacks on Greater Manchester bobbies

The Police Federation has hailed the introduction of a new law which will allow tougher sentences for offenders, saying that officers should not have to consider assault “just part of the job”.

Figures from the Home Office show that between April 2017 and March 2018, 1,031 assaults against officers were recorded in GMP.

Of those, 322 caused injury. It is the first time that assaults causing injury to police officers have been recorded separately from those against members of the public.

Assault against an officer without injury is recorded as a distinct offence. Numbers have been published since 2015-16, and they show an increase in recent years. In 2017-18, 709 offences were recorded, 11 per cent more than in 2015-16.

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said that the numbers are still likely to under-represent the scale of the problem.

He said: “This is an issue I feel passionately about and I have long campaigned to have it addressed. Any attack on a police officer is unacceptable.

"And while I am glad that the ONS and the Home Office are improving their data collation regarding assaults on police officers I do not believe that these figures represent anywhere near the true picture of the level of violence our members face on a daily basis.

“Steps have been taken to improve the quality of the data, however there is still work to be done to ensure that all incidents are accurately recorded so a true picture can be obtained.”