Sixty Police Officers Assaulted Every Single Day

A police officer is assaulted every 24 minutes across the UK, a total of 60 a day, new figures suggest.

According to the Jane's Police Review survey, there were 21,845 assaults on officers in the year 2004-05.

Among the 49 forces which provided data last year there were was a rise of 547 assaults year-on-year.

Paul Lewis, the Police Federation's health and safety committee secretary, called the figures "horrendous".

And Catriona Marchant, Police Review editor, called them "shockingly high".

She said, "Courts need to deal severely with offenders who assault officers, and send out a strong message that attacking a police officer will not be tolerated by society."