Spitting mad

Increase in officers putting hoods on yobs to defend against infection

- BY NORMAN SILVESTER

SCOTLAND'S cops are using spit hoods every four hours to protect themselves from attacks.

Shock figures obtained by the Daily Record show they have been deployed almost 9000 times in the last four years.

The hoods are placed over a person's head when they bite or spit at an officer or threaten to do so.

Figures for April to June this year show the hoods were used on 293 occasions compared to 250 times in the same period in 2024, 257 in 2023, 214 in 2022 and 201 in 2021.

Earlier this week we revealed how attacks on police officers are at a 10-year high.