THIS bloodstained police vest provides grim evidence of an attack on a Hampshire police officer.

The shocking picture was taken after he was head butted while on duty in Winchester.

He was left with a permanent scar from the assault, while the thug responsible was sentenced to 122 days to prison for carrying out the attack.

On another occasion a female police sergeant had her head smashed on to the pavement in a "brutal" attack which saw her attacker jailed for 36 months and the officer saying she was "fortunate" to be alive.

The issue was again brought into focus earlier this year when nine police officers were badly attacked in Hampshire in the space of just one weekend. 

Now the man representing rank-and-file police in Hampshire is calling for better data to show the true extent of violent assaults against officers.

Current estimates reveal 5,000 have suffered assaults in five years.

Daily Echo:

But John Apter (pictured above), the chairman of the Hampshire Police Federation, told the Daily Echo that more needed to be done to capture the true scale of attacks.

He said: "One of the big issues has been a lack of credible data, locally and nationally, on assaults.

"The way we start to deal with the problem is to understand it and we can't because we don't know the true number of assaults."

Mr Apter has been working with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to build up a relationship that will allow stronger action to be taken against people who attack officers.

He said: "When you have got the true picture of violence people like me can lobby for better support and protection, but also when the reality is known people in Government, chief constables and the public will be horrified at the true scale of violence against police officers up and down the country."

He was speaking after attending the Police Federation Conference in Bournemouth where he said he had secured a promise from Home Secretary Theresa May to beef up a national database on assaults on police.