WE have been reminded of the perils facing our police officers in the past few days. PC Neville King is lucky to be alive. He was injured as he tried to arrest a suspicious driver.

Det Con Michael Swindells was not so fortunate. Responding to colleagues' request for back-up, Det Con Swindells was fatally stabbed in Birmingham.

Both officers demonstrated extraordinary bravery. Neither flinched from confronting the sort of people most of us would actively avoid.

The death of Det Con Swindells and the ordeal of PC King show the daily risks the police take on our behalf. By stepping in where the rest of us would step aside, officers fulfil their duty to protect us.

But are we doing enough to protect them?

Det Con Swindells was unarmed and wearing no protective clothing. Protective vests are standard issue among frontline officers. The time has come to extend their distribution so that all officers, including plain-clothes detectives, enjoy the same protection.

It is an anomaly in a society otherwise so obsessed by health and safety regulations that we send officers into danger without safety clothing.

We should draw back from arming all officers, however. There is little evidence that adding guns to our streets will reduce violence. North Yorkshire has a well-trained armed unit: leave firearms to the experts.

Most crucially, the courts must do more to express society's abhorrence of violence against the police. The stiffest sentences should be reserved for a new breed of criminal which treats law officers as targets.

Updated: 10:20 Tuesday, May 25, 2004