Police chair warns officer safety has reached 'crisis point'

Richard Cooke, chairman of West Midlands Police Federation, was speaking after a string of assaults on Black Country police officers, which he slammed as 'totally disgusting'.

In just 36 hours, a police officer was seriously injured when she was hit by a car after responding to an incident in Walsall. Another officer on foot in Cradley Heath was struck by a car which reversed into him, while a Brierley Hill Pc was bitten and punched in a separate incident.

An off-duty officer was knifed in an attempted hijacking in Great Barr while officers were injured when their patrol car was rammed several times in Birmingham.

Sgt Cooke, who took on the federation leadership in June, said: "Since then I've had reports of assaults on officers daily, so unfortunately it's not that out of the ordinary.

"But we have had this 24-hour catalogue of nasty violent attacks, all totally unrelated, with the assault in Walsall I would describe as attempted murder."

The former Walsall and Wolverhampton officer said she had suffered a punctured lung, fractured pelvis, broken ribs and head injuries. "That was the most shocking of the incidents, she could easily be dead," he said.

"It's why we're saying give us more Taser officers. We are getting more but by the end of next year they will make up less than half the front line.

"We're saying you've got to trust officers. Give us the equipment, give us the training – and trust us.

He said Tasers were not 'a panacea' but added: "Increasingly because there are fewer officers, and without going into the rights and wrongs of that, it means a lower concentration of officers per incident.

"Often officers are going out as a single crew, partly out of necessity. A lot of officers are finding themselves on their own and facing up to a greater willingness [by others] to use violence against them.

"Not only that but they are using weapons against them with greater frequency.

"We know that there has been a big rise in knife crime, up by 20 per cent last year ans that pattern has been at sustained this year.

"There's been a worrying trend for really vicious knifes, such as long-reach machetes and swords, to be used which the Express & Star has campaigned against.

"Officers feel exposed and they need that added option of a Taser. It's not always suitable, it doesn't work if you're surrounded by a mob when pepper spray might be more effective.

"This is why so many police officers – 42 per cent in the West Midlands – said in a survey last year that they wanted to be armed with tasers in a routine basis, significantly more than in a survey 10 years ago.

"They are feeling in danger and don't feel that they will get the back-up.

"I think we are reaching a crisis point. We know we're not going to get more officers in the short-term. We need the powers that be to recognise that many police officers are feeling frightened."