FOUR police officers a day are being assaulted or injured while arresting suspects, prompting a training review and calls for a wider rollout of tasers.

Criminals are now “actively targeting police officers” as the under-resourced force is no longer seen as a deterrent, according to a senior rank-and-file representative.

Small teams are being sent into mass brawls and dispatched to deal with people wielding knives and swords armed with nothing more than a baton and pepper spray, it has been claimed.

Police have suffered dislocated joints, fractured bones and even partial loss of eyesight during altercations, leading to calls for more tasers to protect police from further harm.

Assault to injury on police officers rose to 908 incidents last year, and other injuries incurred during arrest rose to 579.

Police officers in Glasgow are now being retrained in how to apply handcuffs in a training pilot based on previous incidents.

Officers are also being retrained in stopping vehicles, with nearly 100 road traffic collision injuries a year and a number of incidents where drivers have deliberately tried to ram officers and police cars.

The pilot also includes new foot pursuit training, with over 200 slips, trips and falls a year, and the safe entry to premises which often involves a battering ram, broken glass and treacherous debris.

Paul Connelly, Scottish Police Federation lead for health and safety in the west of Scotland, welcomed the “overdue” training pilot but said more needs to be done to protect officers.

“Unfortunately, there are still people who think it is acceptable to attack the police and don’t see police as a deterrent,” he said.

“Some people don’t even want to get away, they just want to stay and attack the police.”

He added: “With vehicle stop, I’ve seen some horrendous situations.

“There was the recent incident in Knightswood, there have been incidents in Springburn, there have been incidents across the country where people are deliberately driving vehicles at officers and police vehicles, actively targeting police officers to get away.”

Mr Connelly said there was a systematic review of police training following the death of Constable Lewis Fulton, who was stabbed to death while assisting colleagues in the Gorbals in 1994.

However, he said it has “waxed and waned” since then with annual refresher courses condensed to a single day and some training done online.

The creation of specialist departments — some of which are dealing with crucial issues like counter-terrorism and organised crime — has diverted officers from the beat, he said.

“When I first started, half a dozen officers would turn up to a pub fight, but now if there’s only two officers you want the equipment to work, and if it doesn’t work it can all go horribly wrong,” he said.

“The technology has moved on. Tasers aren’t foolproof, but you can see from the experience in England and Wales that it does have a major deterrent effect. It has reduced injury, not just to officers but to suspects as well.

“If an officer batons someone there is a real risk of inflicting serious injury, but some of the taser studies from England and Wales show a 90 per cent reduction in complaints, assaults, injuries, so that has to be a good thing.

“In Scotland, as things stand tasers are only carried by specialist armed officers, and there appears to be a real reluctance to deploy them…so why are unarmed cops still getting sent to sent to calls where people are wielding swords and carrying knifes?”

Meanwhile, a lack of police cells means suspects are often left stewing in the back of a van for hours with often explosive results.

“When I started in 1994, the longest you would wait is literally half an hour but now it’s about two to three hours, if you can find a custody suite that will actually take you,” he said.

“If you’ve been in a cage in a set of handcuffs for three hours you’re going to be irate, and you’re going to take it out on the people around you.”

The Scottish Police Authority has sought assurances that officer safety is being protected, following a sharp rise in RIDDOR (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) notifications.

Nicola Marchant, Deputy Chairwoman of the SPA, said: “Assurances were provided that the service is taking a proactive approach to identifying issues/causes and learning lessons to support a focus on prevention.

“Assurances were further provided that this work aims to support a culture where responsibility for health and safety sits at all levels of the service.”

Jude Helliker, Police Scotland director of people and development, said: “Earlier this year we launched an innovative trial within the Glasgow area, supported by the Scottish Police Federation, to help keep our officers and staff safe.

“This involves our health and safety team reviewing serious incidents and using this information to brief officers on how to refine their risk assessment techniques while on duty.

“Since April 1 2017, Police Scotland has changed the criteria for recording assaults to provide more accurate statistics. This change has seen a reduction in the number of perceived near-misses being recorded and an increase in the number of assaults.”