More than 600 officers across Greater Manchester Police suffered injuries in the line of duty last year, the M.E.N can reveal.

Among those hurt, 19 officers were struck, kicked or bitten, two were hit by moving cars and two were hurt by CS gas.

Figures obtained through Freedom of Information laws show that 834 injuries were recorded overall by GMP between January 2015 and 2016.

According to the statistics, 648 officers were affected, meaning some bobbies were injured more than once over those 12 months.

Officers faced the greatest risk of injury when attempting arrests, with 654 cases of members of the public harming officers while resisting detention.

Police attempting to restrain active prisoners led to 140 injuries. Senior officers now hope the new bodycams for officers will help reduce attacks and convict more offenders.

The figures obtained by the M.E.N showed that the number of injuries recorded have remained roughly level over the last five years.

But Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “It is simply unacceptable for anyone to believe that being assaulted is just ‘part of their job’.

“Unfortunately, officers are getting injured in the line of duty every day. Like in any profession, police men and women should feel safe going to work every day.”

Speaking about the attacks from members of the public, Mr White described it as ‘reprehensible’, with 2015 seeing 23,000 assaults on officers across the nation - the equivalent of 63 every day.

Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling said: “We take the safety of our officers extremely seriously. However, the nature of the work that they undertake to protect the public can sometimes result in injury.

“We are rolling out body worn video to officers across the force which is an excellent tool in fighting crime and can also help us gather valuable information on the incidents our officers deal with.

"We offer specialist training to ensure the highest standards of safety are maintained and provide support to any officer that may be injured carrying out their duties.”