POLICE officers in Hampshire faced more than 1,000 assaults last year, new figures show.

The Police Federation has welcomed the introduction of a new law which will allow tougher sentences for offenders, saying that officers should not have to consider assault “just part of the job”.

Figures from the Home Office show that between April 2017 and March 2018, 1,159 assaults against officers were recorded in the county.

Of those, 407 caused injury. It is the first time that assaults causing injury have been recorded separately from those against members of the public.

Assault against an officer without injury is recorded as a distinct offence. Numbers have been published since 2015-16, and they show an increase in recent years. In 2017-18, 752 offences were recorded, 25 per cent up on 2015-16.

John Apter, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said that the numbers are still likely to under-represent the scale of the problem.

He said: “This is an issue I feel passionately about and I have long campaigned to have it addressed. Any attack on a police officer is unacceptable.

“And while I am glad that the ONS and the Home Office are improving their data collation I do not believe that these figures represent anywhere near the true picture of the violence our members face daily.

“Steps have been taken to improve the quality of the data, however there is still work to be done to ensure that a true picture can be obtained.”

The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill will be passed into law this autumn. The fact that assaults are committed against emergency workers will be taken into account, potentially leading to tougher sentences.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on wellbeing, Chief Constable Andy Rhodes, said: “All too often police officers and staff are subjected to assaults and threats. While the severity of such attacks changes, the impact upon society does not. It is never acceptable to assume that assaults upon police officers and police staff should be tolerated – they are not simply ‘part of the job’.”