MORE than 3,000 working days have been lost over the past three years because of assaults on Scottish police officers and staff.
New figures revealed that in Strathclyde, attacks on police officers from 2010-2012 cost the force over £263,000.
The figures come from a recent freedom of information request which shows 2,720 working days were lost because of injuries sustained across Scotland in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
In 2010, 709 days were lost, 1342 days in 2011 and 669 days up to 4 December this year.
Strathclyde Police force recorded the largest number of days lost over the past three years but have noted their figures going down each year.
In 2010, 551 days were lost which dropped to 437 days in 2011 and 339 this year so far.
Dumfries and Galloway Police force also noticed a decline in the numbers of days lost down from 11 in 2010 to two this year and Grampian Police from 99 days in 2010 to 28 in 2012.
Lothian and Borders Police recorded 74 working days were lost so far this year which is down from 208 last year.
Tayside Police noticed a drop from 462 lost days in 2011 to 112 this year.
However, Central Scotland Police force recorded 100 working days lost this year which is an increase from five last year and just one in 2010.
Fife Police recorded 143 days last year, up from just nine in 2011.
Northern Constabulary Police remained steady with 11 lost days being recorded last year and 14 this year.
Separate figures show that across the whole of Scotland 287 days have been lost overall because of attacks on police staff.
This means the figure for overall days lost stands at a minimum of 3,007 days.
The majority of attacks on staff leading to lost days happened in Strathclyde, Scotland’s largest force, in 2010 with 266 days of the 287 total.
Alison McInnes, spokeswoman for the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ justice, claims the figures reveal the knock-on effect of violence against police.
She said: “It is harrowing to know that our police force has to deal with violent assaults in their day-to-day work.
“Our figures show that this had a devastating knock-on effect on the performance of our police forces.
“Every working day lost due to injury from assault is a day lost protecting our communities and keeping our streets safe.”
She added: “Those who commit the disgraceful act of attacking our police forces are not just upsetting the lives of police officers and their families- they are hampering the abilities of
police forces to serve communities effectively.
“We already know that police forces face falling budgets and will have to manage their resources more effectively when the single force comes into operation.
“People are extremely proud of Scotland’s police forces. Many will agree that these figures are a national shame which must not be allowed to pass unchallenged.”
