Officers’ representatives have blamed the trend in Strathclyde on a loss of respect and failure of courts to hit offenders with appropriate punishment while chief constable, Steve House, said the rise was in part to the fact more officers are on the beat.

Mr House said that during this year some 520 officers had been assaulted in the course of duty, amounting to the loss of 980 days policing.

The previous year’s figure was 481, while according to the force the days in 2009 lost equates to around £200,000.

Speaking to his governing body, the Strathclyde Police Authority, Mr House said he would be seeking more information as to why there was an upwards trend but said he believed it was in part due to the increase in the number of officers on foot patrol.

But Les Gray, chairman of the Strathclyde branch of the Scottish Police Federation, said: “The figures are becoming worse because the punishment isn’t fitting the crime. Violent criminals talk and they reckon it’s now almost acceptable to assault an officer.

“It’s also seen as part and parcel of an officer’s duty when this isn’t the case with other emergency services.

“The punishments received by these people are an insult to the injured officers and an insult to the public purse.”

He added that a recent trial of an offender on licence accused of assaulting an officer, leading to him having to have six months off with a broken elbow, resulted in an admonishment.

During the recent Europa League clash between Celtic and Hamburg in Glasgow three Strathclyde officers were attacked by a German mob, with ringleader Rene Wurzbach spending three days in the cells before being issued with a £1000 fine.

Another incident where a man was fined £1000 for assaulting an officer led to discussions between the procurator-fiscal and Strathclyde. However, Mr House claimed yesterday he did not believe there was “an endemic problem” in sentencing such offenders.

Paul Rooney, chairman of the Police Authority, described the assault statistics as “stark and disturbing”.

At yesterday’s meeting the chief constable also revealed a significant drop in the number of homicides within the force area, with 26 killings between April and December this year compared with 40 for the same period in 2008.

A Strathclyde spokesman said the force was “not shouting the figures from the rooftops”, claiming it was still too high and that there would be an examination to see if there were any trends explaining the drop.

But he put the decline down to disruption of organised crime networks and gangland killings, as well as early intervention in cases of domestic abuse.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that the cost of policing the protest last month by the Scottish Defence League and the counter demonstration costs the public purse £264,000.

The much-publicised protest in Glasgow by the group attracted barely 80 demonstrators, while the gathering of anti-racist campaigners

the same day in George Square had around 1500. Mr House said the event had passed off peacefully but this was due to planning rather than luck.

He said: “The Scottish Defence League gathered at a pub, went inside, came out and did some demonstrating, went back in and then we got them out of there in two coaches. Glasgow’s reputation was upheld and the feedback from the counter-demonstrators in George Square was very positive.”

Mr Rooney said: “Once again we are looking at the cost of the policing exercise. The police response was appropriate and necessary but the cost to the taxpayer was in excess of £260,000.”