IT’S been revealed that Wiltshire police officers are more likely than officers anywhere else in the country to be assaulted while on duty.

Curious as to why this might be, I decided to look up police assaults on the Adver’s website, hoping for a clue or two.

I found a number of stories.

There was one about a 17-year-old who assaulted an officer and was freed with a referral order.

Another was about a man who attacked not one but two police officers. The attacks were so violent that one victim was left with a dislocated thumb and another a grazed face.

The attacker was freed with a suspended sentence.

There was a story about a thug who spat at some police officers and kicked out at another. He was freed with a community order.

In another story from our courts, a drunken man not only attacked two police officers but managed to gnaw through leg restraints.

He was freed, given some minor financial penalties and ordered to complete an alcohol treatment programme.

I found many similar cases in our archives, relating to the last couple of years alone.

Try as I might, though, I cannot discern any common factors which might contribute to the fact that so many thugs have little or no hesitation in punching, kicking, spitting at or otherwise attacking our front line police officers.

Clearly, unless far more perspicacious minds than mine are brought to bear on this troubling matter, it will remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.