LETTER: Shocked but not surprised

I was shocked but not surprised to hear figures from the Police Federation of England and Wales this week that estimate there are more than 6,600 assaults on police officers every day.

Their survey of some 17,000 officers, the first of its kind, revealed that police officers in England and Wales face around 2.4 million attacks each year – which could be up to 100 times more than the Home Office had estimated.

There were more than 40,000 injuries due to violence last year and these figures show that, on average, an assault – which includes offenders struggling to get free, wrestling, hitting, kicking or spitting at officers – happens every four minutes.