A TOTAL of 35 police officers are attacked every day in Scotland, making it the most dangerous place to pound the beat in the UK.

A TOTAL of 35 police officers are attacked every day in Scotland, making it the most dangerous place to pound the beat in the UK.

New statistics show that eight out of 10 officers were shot, stabbed, beaten and even run over as they patrolled streets north of the Border.

Scotland has the highest attack rate in the UK after 13,000 officers were targeted as they tried to maintain law and order last year.

advertisement Officers in Strathclyde, the largest force, accounted for more than 11,000 cases earning it the unenviable reputation as the danger blackspot.

But five of the other forces, Central, Grampian, Fife, Northern and Dumfries and Galloway, also rank as some of the most dangerous for police assaults in Britain.

A new TV documentary claims figures are surging and officers and legal experts warned it is only a "matter of time" before an officer is killed on duty.

Leading Scots QC Paul McBride said: "We have got young men with access to knives, drink and drugs with no respect for police officers.

"It is a matter of time before that knife is used to killed a police officer.

"The message from the courts is that you can assault police officers broadly with impunity because not very much will happen. A short custodial sentence or a small fine."

A total of 1400 days were taken sick from the police, the equivalent of taking six officers off the streets.

But many told the new BBC1 programme Police Attacks: Officer Down that they are being let down by the legal system which is failing the prosecute the perpetrators.

Dr Kenneth Scott, director of the Centre for Criminal Justice, said: "It almost taken for granted that assaults are things that police have to deal with. Other charges will be seen as being more important.

"If you are looking for a deterrent, it seems to me that it has to come through effective prosecution that sends out a message that assaulting a police officer is not acceptable .

"I don't think we have that system."

Jim Lafferty was forced to leave the CID at Strathclyde Police after he was run over in a brutal attack by a car thief while on duty in Cumbernauld.

He suffered a fractured skull and had blood clots on his brain, which medics feared could kill him.

He spent nine months recovering from the injuries and was desperate to return to work, but it was ruled he was not allowed when surgeons said another blow to his head could kill him.

He said: "He cost me my choice of when I would leave the police force.

"There is a fair chance that someone would try and assault you when carrying out your job and I thought that was the time I wanted to leave the police force. "

WPC Shirley Tindall was stabbed in the head with a kitchen knife when she responded to a 999 call at a flat, but feels "cheated" by the courts.

She said: "Instinctively I ducked down but if I had not the knife could have penetrated into the skull and caused more damage.

"The man was sentenced to a year in prison and I assumed he would serve six months. I later found out he served 17 weeks. I felt cheated."

• Police Attacks: Officer Down will be shown on BBC1 at 10.40pm Wednesday.