Attacks On Police Sharply Up
Tuesday, 02 March 2010
Following the recent spate of burglaries in Birkdale figures have been released showing that Merseyside has seen a shocking rise in working days lost by police officers as a result of assault. The figures, obtained by local MP John Pugh show that in 2004 there was
a recorded 195 days lost due to police officers being assaulted.
This rose to 534 last year. There has been over a 30 % increase in the last year alone.
“My party is committed to putting more police on the streets,and its clearly what's needed,"
John Pugh hears from local police about the problems faced
"But there is a big difference showing up between number of police recruited and the number of police available at any one time."
“Last summer it was announced that funding for Police Community Support Officers (PCSO’s) will end this year.
This will lead to the loss of 18 PCSO’s from Sefton’s streets. Police resources are already stretched and statistics like this show that more not less support from Government is essential."
“Clearly, more needs to be done to ensure that officers are brought back to work as quickly as possible even if it is in an office capacity, or doing lighter duties.”
“These statistics also act as a reminder of just how dangerous it is to be a police officer, and what a tough job they do keeping our streets safe.”
The Liberal Democrats are pledged to increase police numbers by 3000