THE number of police officers leaving the force on medical retirements has been rising in the last three years, West Yorkshire Police statistics reveal.

In the year ending March 2014, 21 officers left the force on those grounds, compared to 17 the year before that and only eight in the year ending March 2012. During that time those three years seven of those retiring also qualified for an injury award from their employer.

West Yorkshire Police said: “Officers are retired on ‘medical grounds’. It is only after they are retired that the issue ... regarding physical injury or mental trauma sustained on duty is investigated."

"This is at the instigation of the retired officer.”