That is the stark reality outlined by Brian Docherty, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation as he reacted to a shocking threat made to a police officer in Dumbarton.

Last week we told how a well-known Bellsmyre crook threatened to bite his lip and spit ‘hepatitis-riddled’ blood in the face of police officers.

David McColl, who was jailed for eight months for the offence, was reacting after being arrested for threatening people with concrete slabs.

Speaking to the Reporter, Mr Docherty said: “It’s something that happens all too often. I know in instances like this there are medical reports that state being subject to such acts is unlikely to result in the contraction of any such disease, because the level of blood or saliva transferred is so low.

“But that doesn’t help the officer subjected to this. If you’re someone faced with the wait for the results of tests to come in and give you the all clear or otherwise, then that is very traumatic.

“And not just for the individuals themselves, but their friends, families, peers and colleagues.” McColl also threatened to kick officers in the teeth and ‘kick them in’ during a shocking outburst in June this year.

Mr Docherty said prevention of such acts was almost impossible to stamp out, however, he pointed to the continuing training and education of officers.

He also pointed to new and improved measures of dealing with confrontation, as well as the methods of nullifying outbursts from crooks.

He added: “We have to make our staff continuously aware of the threats there and have to make sure they know how to conduct themselves in the field, at the charge bar, in the back of the holding van when dealing with such individuals.

“If it’s someone that has a record of acting like this, and who are known locally to officers, then you know how to deal with them.

“We have trialled spit masks before and sometimes it is necessary when dealing with someone, to use these. We have to keep on top of any trends that might creep up on us.” Mr Docherty said social media was a problem for police in dealing with people, referring to the ease of sharing information to associated criminals.

He said if someone was able to get out of being arrested because they tried something, then they can ‘tell their pals’ via sites like Facebook and Twitter – this results in behaviour trends from those approached by police in an attempt to get out of it.

He added: “Is it something we can stop all together?

“Probably not, but we’ll keep educating our staff and doing all we can to minimise the threat, then we can try to stay ahead of the games.

“It’s not a trend, but it’s always a threat. We are keen to make officers aware of the threat and that these are examples of what has happened and could happen.

“It’s been there since I was a probationer 30 years ago.” Are you a police officer?

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