Police officers in West Mercia are assaulted nearly twice each day according to new data. 

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 634 police officers were assaulted in West Mercia between March 31 2022 and March 31 2023. 

Steve Butler, chair of West Mercia Police Federation said: "It’s absolutely disgraceful and deplorable that our members are being attacked in the course of their duties.

“As a federation, we reject the view that it comes with the job.

"It can never be acceptable to attack police officers.

“Of course, it’s only a tiny minority of people, and we’re grateful for the support for police officers from the overwhelming majority of the public.

“We need those who attack police officers to feel the full weight of the law.

“The maximum sentence for assaults on blue light workers increased last year from 12 months to two years, and we need that to be implemented by the courts.

“Put simply, we need to protect the protectors."

Out of the 634 assaults, 177 resulted in an officer being injured. 

Throughout England and Wales, over 40,000 officers were attacked in the 12 months, 11,022 resulted in injury.