Northamptonshire Police Federation chair Sam Dobbs says an attack on an officer is an attack on society as he called for tougher sentences for offenders.

And he said they represented ‘a worrying trend’ after this year’s local Pay and Morale Survey results found that 10 per cent of members in Northamptonshire were attacked with a deadly weapon, such as an axe, bottle, firearm, in 2023, up from one per cent in 2022.

Of the 635 attacks on Northamptonshire officers in the year to 31 March 2023, 152 resulted in injury, according to the Office for National Statistics.

In England and Wales, there was a total of 40,330 attacks on officers in the year to 31 March, with 11,022 resulting in an injury to an officer.

Sam urged the courts to support members with tougher sentences for those who attack officers.

He said: “These new figures are deplorable – no one should be assaulted because of the job they do or the uniform they wear.

“They represent a worrying trend and follow our Pay and Morale Survey which found that one in 10 of our members were attacked with a deadly weapon by members of the public, a rise of nine per cent on the previous year.

“This is totally unacceptable and underlines the levels of violence our members face on a daily basis, just for doing their job. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: officers are not - in no way, shape or form - punchbags. So, why do so many continue to be treated like they are human punchbags?

“These results must serve as a wake-up call.

“The courts now have tougher sentencing powers for those who attack police officers after it was doubled last year to a maximum of two years in prison.

“We need the courts to use those new powers to send out the message it’s not acceptable to assault officers, and it won’t be tolerated.”

Sam highlighted calls by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) for every officer who wanted to carry Taser to be trained to do so.

He said: “As our Pay and Morale Survey shows, our members are facing increasing levels of violence when they attend incidents and they need to be able to protect themselves.

“Taser is a proven deterrent and just having it as part of their kit often diffuses a situation and prevents violence. It is an effective piece of equipment to protect the individual officer and the public.

“Fortunately, local media in Northamptonshire report such hearings regularly, and for that I thank them.”