The number of assaults on provincial police officers has risen 29 percent since 2018.

Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore is the Saskatchewan RCMP Commanding Officer. She says statistics show officers are at an increasing risk of being assaulted while doing their job.

There have been 375 assaults against police officers in the first nine months of this year. There were 471 incidents last year, which was a substantial increase from the 362 reported in 2018.

Breaking down last year’s officer assaults by region, there were 289 in the RCMP’s North District, 118 in the Central District and 64 in the South District. Included in those statistics are eight counts of disarming an officer and three of aggravated assault.