ASSAULTS on Scotland’s emergency workers rose to almost 18 per day last year – as a fire chief branded as ‘completely unacceptable’ an attack on a firefighter who was trying to put out a bin fire.
Official statistics recorded 6,509 common assaults on police, fire and ambulance staff in 2016/17, the highest in three years, though well down on the 2011/12 peak of 7,107.
It came as a firefighter was taken to hospital after being assaulted at the blaze in Springburn, Glasgow, at 9.10pm on Saturday. A separate crew had to be given police protection after being called out to deal with another blaze in the vicinity.
The incident led Scottish Fire and Rescue Service assistant chief officer Lewis Ramsay to say: “Our firefighters’ main purpose is to save lives.
“You can rest assured that they will always be there and standing on the front line to help at times of emergency.
“These firefighters are your father, mother, brother or sister, someone’s family.
He added: “It beggars belief when I hear that they have either been physically assaulted or verbally abused when trying to assist their communities.”
“Attacks on emergency responders are completely unacceptable and I am sure the public would be outraged by incidents where their firefighters have been targeted.
“This type of behaviour not only prevents our crews from bringing any emergency to a safe and swift conclusion but it can impact on our emergency service colleagues including the police when they have to escort us at the scene.
Highlighting the assault figures, which were almost 100 up on the previous year, the Scottish Tories said SNP ministers were not taking the issue seriously enough.
Other statistics show that of the 260 people convicted under the dedicated Emergency Workers Act in 2015/16, only 58 received a custodial sentence.
Tory MSP Liam Kerr said: “The protection of our dedicated emergency service workers has to be paramount. There are laws in place to crack down on this very thing, and it’s time we started using them.
“Many of these attacks will have occurred when a police officer, paramedic or firefighter has arrived specifically to help the very people who end up assaulting them.
“his is a subject I’ve pressed ministers on repeatedly, but I am yet to see any convincing action from them.”
In 2015, it emerged the number of addresses where ambulance workers are not allowed to enter without police protection had increased dramatically.
The Scottish Conservatives revealed after a Freedom of Information request that 2,800 addresses had been Scotland which are ‘red flagged’, up 600 per cent from 2012 when there were only 400 addresses deemed too dangerous.
The flagging meant that paramedics and ambulance employees required police protection before responding to a 999 call.
The figures revealed Greater Glasgow recorded the highest number of no-go addresses for violence at 808 up from only 125 three years ago. In the Lothians there were 470 no-go addresses in 2015, a massive hike from just 86 in 2012.
Lanarkshire recorded 295 addresses unsafe this year, but only 34 in 2012 and Ayrshire & Arran had 285 no-go addresses this year but only 22 three years ago.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Emergency Workers Act includes a penalty of up to 12 months imprisonment, a £10,000 fine, or both and we have extended the act to include GPs and doctors, nurses and midwives working in the community.
“For more serious attacks other offences can be used with maximum penalties all the way up to life imprisonment.
“Scotland’s justice system provides for protection for all workers under our common laws of assault, threatening and abusive behaviour and breach of the peace.
“We fully support our police, prosecutors and courts in dealing robustly with people who offend against public facing workers.”
After Saturday’s assault in Lenzie Terrace on the firefighter, the emergency worker was taken to the city’s Royal Infirmary Hospital for treatment while the rest of the crew had to leave the scene.
The separate crew were given police protection when they were called out to a second bin fire in the same area at 9.55pm, which was extinguished without incident.
Mr Ramsay added that the culprits behind such attacks should be left in “no doubt that it is often down to a very small minority of individuals within those communities. This will not be tolerated because our firefighters absolutely do not deserve to be met with such behaviour.”
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