Police officer punched and knocked out in vicious Manurewa assault suffering bruising, swelling

Police Association President Chris Cahill said the female police officer who was punched and knocked unconscious in Auckland on Monday has severe bruising and swelling.

"That will heal, my concern is the mental harm that does to someone and that's long term," he said.

Police confirmed a man, 27, had been arrested following the attack and was due to appear in Counties Manukau District Court charged with intent to injure.

Cahill said the video, which showed a man violently attacking a female police officer before attempting to flee, reveals to New Zealanders the "atrocious and unacceptable level of violence" police officers face on a daily basis.

The man was then Tasered before being arrested by police.

Cahill described the incident as a "callous unprovoked attack".

"The violence is raw to witness and unfortunately assaults of this gravity are not rare, with more than two thousand assaults on officers last year alone.

"Being assaulted is not 'just part of the job' of keeping communities safe, and the courts need to send a clear message to that effect. If police officers are not protected how are they supposed to protect New Zealanders?"

A witness captured the attack on camera.

Cahill said the environment that officers are currently working in is more violent than ever before and said it needed to change fast.

He said violence against police has escalated over a number of years claiming officers now are at a real risk of being assaulted on a daily basis.

"I didn't go to work expecting to get assaulted, where nowadays officers go to work and they know that it is a real risk on a daily basis and that's what's changed over the years.

"No one should expect that to happen, that is not the right environment for anyone to work in.

"It's not just the officer, I always worry about the whanau – the parents, the partners, the children that see their loved one go off to work and are just spending that whole shift worrying about them."

During the incident, as officers surrounded the man on foot, he approached a female officer and punched her in the face.

She collapsed on the street clutching her face and was tended to by shocked members of the public.

A witness told the Herald she saw blood coming from both her eyes and nose.

Members of the public rushed to help a female police officer who was knocked out and lay prone in the middle of a Manurewa street.

The alleged offender was then Tasered by police, however, he overcame the effects of the taser, getting to his feet despite the barbs being lodged in his back.

Speaking to AM, Cahill said Tasers were hit and miss and their impact depends on the motivation of a person and their clothing – things like jackets could be difficult for them to work, he said.

"They're not fool proof by any means, but they're still a great tool."

He said there has been "good" improvements made to training which has increased from three and a half days to seven and a half days a year.

The extended training period was still being rolled out across regions.

"There's so much work to be done, you can only do so much training [and] have enough police out there."

Training covered a wide range of issues including defensive tactics, driving, mental health and family harm.

"Police are the jack of all trades so it's hard to get specialist training across everything.

"The real thing is that society has to change the idea that the police are fair game, and the court has a place to play in this.

"At some stage there has to be deterrent sentences that say if you're going to assault a police officer, you're actually assaulting a society in general."