NERVE damage, hearing loss and false imprisonment are among the claims by Cumbrian officers that cost the county’s police force almost £140,000 in the last five years.

An investigation by the Newsquest Data Investigations Unit revealed the force paid out a total of £58,980.74 to deal with claims by police officers and staff since 2015.

This money alone would have paid for the yearly salary of three new officers.

Cumbria police also spent £80,303.38 in legal fees related to 21 claims, which includes fees of the claimant’s solicitors when these have been payable by the constabulary.

Superintendent Lisa Hogan, head of people at Cumbria police, said: “The health and wellbeing of our officers and staff is a priority for the constabulary and we take our duty to protect our workforce very seriously.

“Our officers and staff work hard all-year-round to keep the public safe and many roles in policing place high demands on individuals.

“We run numerous schemes designed to support our staff so they can help keep our communities safe.

“We offer training and carry out risk assessments to give our staff the correct skills.

“We also work with staff associations to make sure our people are as safe as they can be as they carry out their duties for our communities.”

Of the claims submitted, nine were settled, in two cases the liability was denied, one claim was repudiated, one discontinued, one withdrawn and seven claims are on-going.

Other claims submitted include: misfeasance in public office, conspiracy to injure, harassment, false imprisonment; three claims of disability discrimination; three claims for burns/scaring; depression; injury during operational policing; two claims for work related stress; human rights breach and back injury.

Clive Knight, the Police Federation’s Health and Safety Lead, said: “It is a legal requirement that our members are provided with safe systems of work to ensure a safe and healthy working environment.If standards fall below what is required, and situations arise where our members are injured or their health affected, they have a right to seek compensation.

“Preventing injuries is in the interest of all officers, their colleagues and members of the public to reduce absences on an already stretched service.

“The Government and chief officers must do all they can to ensure the physical and mental welfare of officers is protected to allow them to keep doing their jobs, serving the public to the best of their ability.

“The consequences for officers who suffer an injury on duty are wide-ranging. It can affect their ability to perform their required role, their personal life and in extreme cases it can even end their policing career.

“As well as physical injury, it is important to note that increasingly these cases focus on the psychological harm police officers can suffer as a result of their work.

“Raising awareness of the toll the job can have on police officer’s mental health and wellbeing is something the Federation has been campaigning about for some time, investing in a specific wellbeing workstream to focus on this area.

“We continue to push for improved health and safety practices across all forces, investing in training our local Health and Safety leads to NeBOSH standard so they can work with their chief officers to ensure that risk is reduced to a minimum.”A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman, said: “Every day police officers and staff run towards danger and deal with numerous traumatic events whilst assisting the public. Chief officers take their duty to protect their workforce very seriously.

“Forces carry out risk assessments, offer training and work with staff associations to make sure our people are as safe as they can be and when a police officer or member of staff is injured at work, it’s vital they receive appropriate care, support and treatment.”