SUSSEX Police has said they “will not tolerate” violence against their officers, as new figures revealed attacks on emergency workers in the county are on the rise.

Home Office figures show Sussex Police recorded 1,384 assaults on emergency workers in the year to March.

Most of the alleged victims were police constables – there were 1,035 assaults without injury on PCs last year and 287 with injury, while there were 62 on other emergency workers.

The total number recorded last year was up from 1,283 in 2020-21, when assaults on emergency workers who are not police constables were recorded for the first time.

A spokesman from Sussex Police said assaults on emergency service workers were “unacceptable” and that the force is “seeking ways” to reduce attacks.

“Being attacked is a risk that police officers, and frontline staff working for the police and the other emergency services are now facing every day whilst carrying out their duties to help and to protect the public,” he said.

“These assaults on duty – the most likely way our officers are injured – have been increasing over the years and it is unacceptable.

“Our health and safety team has collated and analysed four years of data to gain a detailed understanding of how and where assaults are taking place as well as who is being assaulted.

“We are using this information, gained from officers and staff, to start a dedicated piece of work involving the local Police Federation, Unison, officer safety trainers and teams responsible for police/staff personal protective equipment.

“We are seeking ways to reduce assaults and their seriousness, as well as ways on how we can support colleagues when they have been assaulted.

“We will not tolerate violence being used against our officers and staff and we will take positive action should it happen.”

Across the two nations, 44,600 emergency worker assaults were recorded in 2021-22 – a rise of 10 per cent on the 40,400 the year before.

Since the Assaults on Emergency Workers Bill came into law in 2018, the maximum prison sentence for common assault on an emergency worker has been 12 months.

The offence applies to attacks on 'blue light' workers such as the police, paramedics and fire fighters, along with many others, including prison officers, NHS workers, and St John Ambulance volunteers.

The Police Federation said the rise in assaults on emergency workers is “appalling” and must not be tolerated or seen as just part of the job.

Steve Hartshorn, national chairman of the organisation, described the rise in offences nationally as a “stain on society”.

“Crime levels rose once Covid restrictions were lifted and a split-second act of violence, whether an injury is sustained or not, often leaves devastating and long-term effects on police officers,” he said.

"The physical and mental scars of these assaults can last a lifetime and are unacceptable.

“Assaults on emergency workers are a stain on society and many of these assaults which are recorded without an injury would have been vile spitting and coughing attacks."

He said it is vital judges and magistrates make full use of the new law to ensure the sentence handed down reflects the seriousness and gravity of the crime.

Separate figures show that the proportion of offenders charged has fallen nationwide, from 68 per cent to just 62 per cent in 2021-22.

In Sussex, 1,333 emergency worker assault investigations concluded last year, with 59 per cent resulting in a charge or summons – down from 63 per cent in 2020-21.

PTSD 999, a support organisation for all emergency services, said stronger sentencing for offenders would protect both the public and those facing assaults.

Gary Hayes, co-founder of the group, said: "Assaults on emergency service workers can be traumatising but not necessarily at the time of the event, the effects on the individual may present itself days, weeks, months or years later.

"There is no time scale as to how and when someone may start to struggle with an assault."

A government spokesman said: “Assaults on members of our emergency services are unacceptable, which is why this government has doubled the maximum penalty for assaulting an emergency worker."