Cops in Stirling have vowed to tackle an “unacceptable” rise in attacks on emergency workers in the district over the past year.
Shocking figures from Police Scotland’s quarterly crime report, covering the period between April 1 2020 and March 31 2021, has shown a sharp jump in the numbers of assaults recorded on emergency services staff for 2020/21.
According to the data, a total of 87 such attacks were seen in the latest recording period - compared to just 65 in 2019/20.
The assaults are recorded for all emergency staff carrying out various key work, such as police, health workers and paramedics.
Inspector Liam Harman, Stirling, said: “In the last 12 months police in Stirling have seen an increase in attacks on emergency service personnel; 65 in 2019/2020 to 87 in 2020/2021.
“Any attack on emergency workers during the course of their duties is disgraceful and unacceptable.
“Tackling this type of crime is a priority for Police Scotland and we will work with our partners to make sure these attacks are not just seen as part of the job; emergency workers should be treated with dignity and understanding and any form of violence or abuse will not be tolerated in the workplace.”
The latest report follows earlier work from Police Scotland which had revealed that officers across Scotland had logged more than 1000 coronavirus related assaults during 2020-21.
A total of 1087 reports were identified as a result of searching key words such as ‘spit’, ‘cough’, and ‘Covid’.
It was part of a total of 6942 reported assaults on police officers and staff, which was 413 more than the previous year and a 6.3 per cent increase year-on-year.
